Overview

• The draft regulation raises the monthly assessment ceiling to €8,450 for pension and unemployment insurance and to €5,812.50 for health and long‑term care, with the insurance‑obligation threshold set at €6,450.
• The ministry has sent the proposal into inter‑ministerial coordination and stresses it has no normative discretion because the values are set by law based on last year’s 5.16% wage increase.
• FAZ calculations indicate an illustrative additional burden of about €1,784 per year for some high earners, with insurers warning that rising supplemental health contributions could add a second hit.
• Roughly 1.6 million people earned above the pension cap in 2022 and about 1.5 million statutory insured are expected to be affected by the higher health cap.
• Reactions split along political lines, with the taxpayers’ association and CDU figures warning of higher labor costs, while others in the CDU accept the formulaic adjustment and left‑Green voices call for broader financing reforms.