price increase
Patient advocates: Care costs are exploding
Care costs are increasing due to high inflation. photo
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
Everything is getting more expensive – including the cost of care. Patient advocates fear that even more people in need of care will soon need social assistance. And they criticize the government’s bailout policy.
According to the German Foundation for Patient Protection, more and more people in need of care are slipping into social assistance due to the sharp rise in costs. “We are assuming that care costs will have risen by at least 15 percent by the end of the year,” said board member Eugen Brysch of the dpa. Energy costs, inflation and higher wages for nursing staff were particularly noticeable.
40 percent of the approximately 800,000 people in inpatient care nationwide are already dependent on social assistance. There are also many recipients of social assistance among the 1.2 million people in outpatient care. Another significant increase will have a direct impact on the municipalities through an explosion in social welfare spending.
Inflation compensation and one-off payment required
In view of this situation, the German Foundation for Patient Protection is demanding immediate inflation compensation for all long-term care insurance benefits. In addition, a flat-rate one-time payment of 1,000 euros should be paid for each person in need of care, “because the expenses have already exploded,” demanded the board of the foundation.
“In a rush action, a rescue package for gas suppliers is put together overnight, and we don’t even know if they are running deficits,” criticized Brysch, referring to the gas levy, adding: “The big ones will be saved and the small ones will be helped in the crisis in Germany Abandoned. This has to end.”
In his words, the federal government must “finally prove that it assumes social responsibility”. The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia must also become active and take the initiative in view of the financial situation of many people in need of care.
Brysch fears that care providers will also increasingly find themselves in severe distress. “We hear from both outpatient and inpatient care facilities that they see bankruptcy coming because they can no longer bear the costs.”