;Resize=(1200,627)&impolicy=perceptual&quality=mediumHigh&hash=e356fb39be606dbd707f8b4b6723552859cfe2ee75a0c2c0f1ccb62cd3b0792d "Nursing care is becoming significantly more expensive, residents have to pay up to 348 euros more")
Home care has become significantly more expensive. Seniors have to reckon with increasing personal contributions and have to dig deeper into their own pockets to do so. The reason for this is above all the increased personnel costs due to higher wages for nursing staff, said the Association of Substitute Health Insurance Funds (vdek) on Tuesday in Berlin. But the costs for accommodation, food and drink have also increased.
Nursing home residents have to pay more for their care
In the first year, residents of the home have to pay an average of 2,548 euros per month – 348 euros more than in mid-2022. A stay of 24 months or more results in an increase of 236 euros (2,050 euros) and 36 months or more of 165 euros (1,738 euros).
There are regional differences. The most expensive was the care in the first year in the home in Baden-Württemberg with an average of 2,913 euros per month. The lowest was the burden in Saxony-Anhalt with 1,994 euros.
Association of substitute funds criticizes the financial burden on those in need of care
“We support the measures for fair payment of nursing staff and ensuring adequate staffing levels in nursing homes,” said Jörg Meyers-Middendorf from the vdek board. “But it cannot be that the steadily increasing costs have to be shouldered largely by those in need of care.”
It is necessary to relieve those in need of care in a timely manner, which is not solely on the backs of the contributors. “This includes finally obliging the federal states to bear the investment costs for the care facilities. That would relieve those in need of care ad hoc by an average of 477 euros per month.”
The care policy spokeswoman for the left, Ates Gürpinar, criticized that care is making more and more people poor. “We need real care funding reform. All care-related costs must be covered. The employees and those to be cared for must not be played off against each other.”
Social association VdK advocates solidarity financing of the homes
The German Foundation for Patient Protection evaluated the numbers as proof that the federal government had not managed to make long-term care insurance future-proof. Despite the relief measures that have been decided, the cost tsunami continues to roll, explained board member Eugen Brysch. He called for an increase in all benefit amounts by 350 euros. “Likewise, the long-term care insurance must completely cover the costs for the pure care.”
The social association VdK also called for full nursing care insurance. “Increasing costs in nursing homes must not fall solely on the residents. Care is a task for society as a whole and must therefore be financed in solidarity,” said President Verena Bentele. Investment costs for the homes would have to be borne by the federal states, training costs would have to be tax-financed.
More and more residents slipped into social assistance because of the financial burden
In Germany, long-term care insurance does not cover all the costs of a place in a home. If you live in an inpatient facility, you have to pay your own shares. The health insurance companies only partially or fully cover the pure care costs. Accommodation and meals as well as other costs – also for the staff – must be borne by the resident himself.
Due to the sharp rise in personal contributions, more and more residents of inpatient facilities had recently slipped into social assistance. On January 1, 2022, the federal government therefore decided on a cost-cutting measure: a relief contribution that increases with the length of care: the personal contribution for pure care falls by 5 percent in the first year in the home, by 25 percent in the second, by 45 percent in the third, from the fourth year by 70 percent. These values are to be increased again on January 1st.