Diakonie and DEVAP Warn of Harmful Cuts in Proposed Nursing Reforms

Diakonie Deutschland and the German Evangelical Association for Elderly Care and Nursing (DEVAP) have jointly criticized the proposed nursing care reform in Germany, warning that it threatens care recipients, family caregivers, and care providers. They assert the government’s current savings proposals break promises made in the coalition agreement and deviate from commitments to sustainable stabilization of nursing insurance. Key concerns include limits on tariff refinancing of care providers’ wages, which under current reform proposals would only be reimbursed up to average wage increases among statutory health insurance-insured workers. This limitation imperils care providers who honor collective wage agreements, forcing them to cover funding gaps themselves — a risk heightened by skilled worker shortages.

Furthermore, the associations warn that delayed bonuses in inpatient care will increase personal costs for care recipients, potentially leading to poverty and greater reliance on municipal social assistance, which they say undermines social cohesion. The proposed tightening of access to early preventive care levels also contradicts coalition goals aimed at strengthening outpatient home care.

Diakonie's Elke Ronneberger highlighted that tariff refinancing restrictions contravene the Tariff Loyalty Act, especially as nonprofit care providers do not have profit reserves. Anna Leonhardi of DEVAP called the cost-shifting measures "dangerous signals" for society amid growing care dependency. The associations urge the government to uphold coalition promises and recommend immediate measures such as transferring treatment care costs to statutory health insurance, reimbursing remaining COVID-19 expenses, and exempting training costs from patient contributions. They call for a binding "master plan" for sustainable, socially just care finance reforms.

These warnings underscore deep concerns about the financial and structural sustainability of care in Germany under the current reform proposals, risking deterioration in quality and affordability of care services.