"The letters to the residents are already out," says home manager Christina Abel.

Such letters, which announce price increases in the nursing home at the water tower in Frankfurt to residents and their relatives, will be sent out in abundance in the near future.

The reason is the so-called tariff loyalty law, more precisely: the law for the further development of health care (GVWG), which provides for an adjustment of the salaries of nursing staff on September 1st.

The realization that nurses should not only be rewarded with applause but also with higher wages for their work has gained wide publicity during the pandemic.

Many home residents and their families will pay more for this from next month.

Monica Ganster

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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In the Rödelheimer Pflegestift, customers are faced with a comparatively moderate monthly price increase on the key date: around 70 euros on average.

These are increases in the single-digit percentage range, says Abel.

Moderate, because in other homes where the nursing staff have been paid less so far, the increases in the personal contribution will be more significant.

Brigitte Schulz, who heads the “Principles of Social Affairs” department in the Frankfurt Social Welfare Office, assumes up to 40 percent.

Because of her work, she has an insight into the price development in the homes.

Currently, around 70 percent of all nursing homes are not bound by collective bargaining agreements, says Schulz.

There is also not just one, but different collective agreements depending on the provider, so that, for example, the care home at the water tower was based on a "regional fee" in the end,

Long-term care insurance only covers part of the accommodation costs

Contrary to what the name might suggest, long-term care insurance only covers a portion of the costs of home accommodation, depending on the level of assistance that a pensioner, for example, needs.

For the residents there are additional costs for accommodation, meals and investments in the maintenance of the facilities, from which the own contribution is calculated.

And this amount has it all: Anyone who is cared for in a home in Hesse for the first year has to finance an average of 2119 euros a month themselves, as an analysis by the Association of Substitute Health Insurance Funds (VDEK) recently showed.

In view of this amount, it is only cold consolation that Hesse is still below the national average of 2200 euros.

From January 1, 2022, the federal government wanted to counter the steadily rising costs in nursing homes with a relief surcharge that increases with the length of care: The personal contribution for pure care is to fall by five percent in the first year in the home and by 25 percent in the second , by 45 percent in the third year and even by 70 percent from the fourth year on.

However, the effects of the Collective Bargaining Act eat up this relief, especially in the case of short stays in homes, as Claudia Ackermann, head of the VDEK state representation in Hesse, explains.

On the other hand, those who have been cared for in the home for several years benefit from the relief contribution, as home manager Abel calculates: With care level 4, this can amount to almost 1000 euros a month.

There could be more price jumps

The price jumps in September will not be the last in the foreseeable future.

Higher inflation will continue to drive up homes' costs for energy, food and supplies.

In the next round of negotiations on care rates between the care funds and the social welfare agencies, these costs will then be passed on to the residents again, possibly as early as the turn of the year.

After all, the people being cared for have to finance their accommodation and meals with their own contribution.

The head of the VDEK state representation in Hesse criticizes the high co-payments: "With such high personal contributions, the need for care remains a risk of poverty." Ackermann also sees the state of Hesse as responsible for at least assuming the investment costs for the care facilities.

"This alone would save those in need of care in Hesse 505 euros a month."

If seniors can no longer finance their place in the nursing home from their pension and assets, their children will be called in if their income exceeds 100,000 euros a year as a guideline.

If this is not the case, the social welfare office steps in.

In very many cases.

In German nursing homes, an average of around 35 to 38 percent of residents receive social assistance, says Dirk Rüger from the Frankfurt social welfare office.

According to him, the rate in large cities is sometimes 50 percent or more.

Even if many pensioners who have worked all their lives do not want to be dependent on state aid, social assistance is open to everyone: “Anyone can apply to the social welfare office if their own funds are not sufficient for the nursing home, even if you are already in lives in a nursing home and the costs are increasing there,” says Brigitte Schulz from the Frankfurt social welfare office.