Overview

• After the cabinet set a 2.9% average GKV surcharge for 2026 and approved a €2 billion savings plan largely by capping hospital reimbursements, leading insurer groups warned contributions are still likely to rise.
• The Bavarian counties association urged municipal clinics to sue over the planned budget cap and asked MPs to stop the measure, arguing many hospitals would be pushed into losses they cannot offset.
• The Labor Ministry’s draft replacing Bürgergeld with a stricter “Grundsicherung” allows full benefit cuts, including rent, for repeated non‑compliance, yet the ministry projects savings of only €86 million in 2026 and €69 million in 2027.
• Economists, unions and social groups condemned the welfare draft as socially harmful and cautioned that cutting rent support could deepen poverty and housing insecurity.
• On pensions, the government’s plan to hold the statutory level at 48% until 2031 faces a blockade threat from 18 CDU/CSU MPs citing post‑2031 costs above €115 billion, while Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil tied the package’s passage to concurrent votes on the Mothers’ Pension boost and a new Aktivrente and pressed Jens Spahn to deliver support.