Overview
- The SPD has said it will not support the current bill and threatened to block the cabinet vote on Wednesday if its demands are not met.
- Health Minister Carsten Linnemann insists the draft stay on the planned timetable and rejects a €1,500 cap, arguing short‑term savings first and a structural reform commission for late October.
- The draft would tighten eligibility for care grades and slow the rise of insurance subsidies for nursing homes, moves that would raise out‑of‑pocket costs for many care recipients at first.
- Government forecasts and independent estimates put the care insurance gap at several billion euros next year, and ministers are discussing using returned pandemic loans and extra federal transfers as short‑term relief.
- Care associations, insurers and municipal groups warn higher hurdles and frozen wage rules will worsen staffing and local costs, while the SPD and Union remain sharply divided over who should bear the burden.