Rehlinger Proposes €1,500 Monthly Cap on Nursing‑Home Charges

Overview

• The €1,500 cap is a political proposal from Saarland’s Anke Rehlinger and is not in law, with no draft text or financing plan published so far.
• Official vdek data show the average resident paid €3,364 per month in the first year as of July 1, 2026, split about €1,775 for care, €1,068 for accommodation and meals, and €521 for investment costs.
• Calculations based on those figures show a cap that covers only the remaining care share would cut average first‑year bills by about €275 per month, while a cap on the entire personal contribution would save roughly €1,864 per month.
• Key design questions remain unresolved, including whether the cap would cover accommodation, meals, training or investment costs and how the cap would interact with the staged care surcharge in §43c SGB XI.
• Stakeholders say financing must be decided before impact is clear and suggest alternatives such as Länder funding for investment and training costs; the government’s published reform draft currently does not include a €1,500 limit.