Better care at home and more flexibility should be made possible – and caring relatives should be relieved financially.
There are still improvements to be made in the planned care reform of the traffic light coalition. A budget that can be used flexibly with relief services for caring relatives should now come, as the government factions said.
First, the editorial network Germany reported about it. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) had also campaigned for this. In return, a planned later increase in care services is expected to be somewhat lower.
The SPD health expert Heike Baehrens said at the request of the German Press Agency: “In order to strengthen domestic care and to allow caring relatives more flexibility, the services of preventive and short-term care will be bundled in an annual budget from 2025.” For financing, the dynamization of all care services planned for 2025 should be reduced from 5 to 4.5 percent. This puts the financial focus on the urgently needed low-threshold relief for caring relatives.
Legislative plans come to the Bundestag
Green parliamentary group deputy Maria Klein-Schmeink told the dpa that with the “relief budget” now planned from July 1, 2025, caring relatives could use services of 3539 euros unbureaucratically – in order to be able to take a break and meanwhile care is ensured. For parents of children in need of care with care grade 4 or 5, this budget should be available from January 1, 2024 with 3386 euros and should also increase to 3539 euros by July 2025.
In the parliamentary deliberations, the SPD and the Greens had pushed for further improvements, especially for care at home, that go beyond the draft tabled by the cabinet. The legislative plans are expected to finally come to the Bundestag this Friday and be decided.
Among other things, it is planned to raise the care contribution by 0.35 percentage points on July 1st – a little more for people without children. This should also implement a judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court. It is currently 3.05 percent of gross wages, and 3.4 percent for childless people. The care allowance for those in need of care at home, which was last increased in 2017, is to rise by 5 percent at the beginning of 2024. Surcharges for those in need of care in the home are to be increased in 2024.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
