Overview
- Care funds have signalled an urgent financing gap of about €10 billion for 2027 and public reporting warns the funds could face a liquidity squeeze as soon as October 2026.
- Health Minister Carsten Linnemann is preparing a Pflegereform for cabinet consideration in September that pairs spending controls with revenue measures, notably raising the Beitragsbemessungsgrenze so more income is subject to care contributions.
- Raising the contribution assessment ceiling would sharply increase costs for high earners and self-employed contributors and could raise maximum monthly care charges by several dozen euros for many households.
- Municipal leaders warn that tighter statutory coverage and higher home-care co‑payments will push costs into 'Hilfe zur Pflege' budgets, which already totalled about €6.6 billion last year, and private insurers say proposals to tap their ageing reserves would be legally contested.
- Separately, the Deutsche Rentenversicherung forecasts a roughly 4.4% pension rise from July 2027, the Mütterrente III payment change takes effect 1 January 2027 at an estimated €5 billion yearly cost, and a commission has proposed linking future retirement ages to life expectancy for cohorts born 1965 and later.