Germany sets up expert panel on long-term care, will weigh cap on nursing home costs
Thirteen experts are to present proposals by the end of January 2027 on stable funding for long-term care, including whether residents' out-of-pocket costs in nursing homes can be capped.
Symbolic image · Photo: 4028mdk09 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Germany's Cabinet on Wednesday set up a new commission on the structure of long-term care. The 13-member panel is tasked with securing care beyond 2030, guaranteeing its funding and keeping the contribution rate of public long-term care insurance stable over the medium term. It is chaired by former Caritas Secretary General Georg Cremer and legal scholar Gabriele Kuhn-Zuber.
Its mandate is broad. The commission is to examine whether residents' out-of-pocket costs in nursing homes can be capped; the Social Democrats had called for a limit of 1,500 euros. It is also to develop models for "constitutionally compliant social compensation mechanisms" between public and private care insurance.
First results are expected at the end of January 2027, and the overhaul is to take effect on July 1, 2027. Health Minister Carsten Linnemann called care the "mega-issue of this decade." The umbrella group of statutory health insurers said legislation must begin as soon as the findings are in.