Overview
- An Allensbach survey for DAK finds 62% rate long-term care provision as not good, with DAK’s Andreas Storm warning the system stands at a tipping point.
- Average out-of-pocket charges for a nursing-home place topped €3,100 per month in the first year, and about one-third of residents rely on social assistance.
- Roughly €1.7 billion remains missing in the 2026 care budget, and after an initial €1.5 billion federal loan, cross‑party budget negotiators signal a likely loan top‑up in the coming “Bereinigungssitzung.”
- Employer groups urge deregulatory steps such as scrapping cash benefits in Pflegegrad 1, shifting personnel costs back into hospital DRGs and loosening staffing rules, while advocates and SPD/Greens float cost caps and a unified, solidarity-funded insurance that includes capital income.
- Parallel pension pressures deepen: surveys show collapsing trust in the system, the special Berufsschutz no longer applies to those born after January 1, 1961, and from December 2025 the supplementary payment for certain disability pensions is folded into monthly payouts with beneficiaries receiving formal notices.