Nursing care insurance in financial distress: Study warns of premium increases this year

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User of a rollator in Neubrandenburg

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According to a new study, those insured in statutory nursing care insurance could soon face a further increase in contributions - and therefore sooner than expected. The ever-increasing number of people in need of care in Germany is likely to require an increase by the turn of the year, according to the new care report from the health insurance company DAK-Gesundheit, which is to be presented this Tuesday in Berlin. A contribution rate adjustment to ensure the solvency of long-term care insurance is likely as early as 2024.

To stabilize long-term care insurance, the Bundestag passed a reform last year. The finances should actually be secured until 2025. The contribution for those without children rose to 4 percent and for contributors with one child to 3.4 percent. The employer share rose to 1.7 percent. If you have more children, the contribution decreases.

According to the DAK report, clear financing gaps are already becoming apparent for the fourth quarter of 2024, "which will probably require increases in contribution rates before the federal election next year," it says.

Where a particularly large number of nurses are missing

In addition, the scientists from the Freiburg social research institute AGP are sounding the alarm on behalf of the DAK about the personnel situation. The labor market reserve in nursing is shrinking. The comparison of age-related career departures and a decreasing number of young talent results in a gap that will become worse in the coming years. Even in the 1920s, there would no longer be enough graduates from nursing schools to close the gap of baby boomers leaving the profession.

According to the study, there were over 1.14 million professional nurses in Germany in 2023. More than one in five of them will reach retirement age in the next ten years. In each federal state, around 20 percent of the staff would then have to be replaced - the need varies between 19.7 percent in Saxony and 26.5 percent in Bremen. “In individual federal states, tipping points will be reached this decade at which significantly more nurses will retire than young people will enter the profession,” says the report. This will be the case in Bremen and Bavaria as early as 2029.