German welfare group head Bentele calls care reform “irresponsible”
Germany's VdK social association wants changes to the government's long-term care reform. Splitting benefits into four pots could cost people in need of care more, President Verena Bentele warns.
Archive image · Photo: Michael Lucan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de (cropped and resized)
The VdK, one of Germany's largest social welfare associations, is calling on the federal government to revise its planned long-term care reform. The coalition wants to stabilize contributions to long-term care insurance in the short term by pooling benefits into joint budgets. VdK President Verena Bentele warned of the consequences in the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper: “Restructuring the budgets now makes it harder for many people to access tailored support services,” German news agency dts quoted her as saying.
Because of the rigid division into four pots, people in need of care could have to pay more out of pocket once a budget is used up. “That is irresponsible,” Bentele said. She fears additional burdens for family caregivers, who would have to rework care arrangements that are functioning. “Family caregivers need simplification and more support, not less.”
The VdK also demands that the federal government reimburse long-term care insurance for 5.2 billion euros in so-called coronavirus debts, extra benefits from the pandemic that were never compensated. In the long term, the association wants a single, unified care insurance into which all citizens pay. “We need a new attempt to settle the financing of long-term care,” Bentele said.