“The house is on fire when it comes to care”: Health insurance companies are warning of an even larger gap in insurance

However, according to a media report, the financial problems are even greater than expected. According to the umbrella association of statutory health insurance companies (GKV), nursing care insurance recorded a loss of 667 million euros in the first quarter of 2026 – despite a loan of 800 million euros. This is reported by “Spiegel”.

For the current year, GKV boss Oliver Blatt expects a loss of around one billion euros. If you add the debt to the federal government, the result would be a deficit of 4.2 billion euros. According to Blatt, income from nursing care insurance will increase by 7.7 percent in 2026, but expenses will increase by 9.1 percent. “The house is on fire when it comes to long-term care insurance, and we urgently have to get to work putting it out,” he told the magazine.

According to the calculations, the funds for nursing care insurance are only 4.3 billion euros at the end of the year, of which 4.2 billion euros are debts. “Nursing in Germany lives on credit,” said Blatt. The government must “turn things around now, otherwise the financial problems will become unmanageable next year,” said the treasurer.

Because the first few months of a year are particularly low-income, he warned: “Nursing care is running out of time because the funding gap will be there right at the beginning of next year.”

Blatt reiterated the proposed solution Demand that the federal government repay its debts from the corona pandemic to the nursing care insurance. That would be 5.2 billion euros that could be used to stabilize care in the short term.

Secondly, the federal states should also cover the investment costs in nursing homes. “As a result, every nursing home resident could be relieved of an average of 500 euros practically overnight,” said Blatt. The unbridled increase in personal contributions in the homes is “no longer reasonable”.

Third, says Blatt, The federal government should cover the pension contributions for caring relatives. This has so far been covered by nursing care insurance.

In order to compensate for the expected deficits in social care insurance in the next two years, people in homes in need of care are threatened with significant additional burdens and more difficult access to services. Among other things, Warken wants to save on subsidies for home accommodation.

“One possibility is to extend the granting of subsidies,” the minister just told the “Rheinische Post”. At the same time, she warned that the spending trend was “already endangering the solvency of the nursing care funds this year.”

In the SPD, however, there is resistance in the federal states against additional burdens for those in need of care. “Instead of providing relief, Minister Warken is increasing the pressure on those in need of care and their families,” said Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) to “Bild”. The black-red government’s plan is not a reform, it only means higher additional payments.

Criticism has also come from the CSU, the opposition and social associations in the past few days. The German Caritas Association warned against frightening older people and their families with austerity proposals. “The federal government’s reform agenda needs confidence and the conviction of the population that the priorities are being set correctly,” explained Caritas President Eva Welskop-Deffaa.