OECD-Bildungsbericht: Deutschland gibt überdurchschnittlich viel Geld aus für Bildung – aber falsch

Karl-Josef Laumann, deputy leader of the CDU, lacks understanding for the current demands of the SPD in the nursing care dispute. He said that all of the SPD's wishes "cost a lot of money," and it is clear that there isn't enough money for the nursing care insurance. Instead, they must look for ways to save money in the nursing care insurance.

Laumann emphasized that cutting costs always means that something doesn't improve, it's just the nature of things. The alternative, he said, would be higher contributions. Meanwhile, Federal Health Minister Carsten Linnemann plans to submit a bill in the cabinet on Wednesday to prevent a looming billion-euro deficit in the statutory nursing care insurance and higher contributions.

The nursing funds had warned about a €4.4 billion shortfall by the end of the year. The SPD threatened to block a pure cost-cutting law over the weekend. Specifically, the Social Democrats demand a cap on nursing costs for residents in nursing homes and a cost-sharing arrangement for private insurance. Laumann backed Linnemann's call for the Federal Finance Ministry to return more than five billion euros in Corona aid to the nursing insurance.

He firmly believes that the so-called Corona aid, between five and six billion euros, needs to be returned to the insurance to achieve some of the savings. When asked about the private insurance's participation in the nursing insurance costs, Laumann stated that one must ask the fundamental question of whether they want to abolish the dual system of statutory and private insurance.

He finds it legally very difficult to allow private nursing insurance to dig into its pockets. He is not sure if this can save the situation. So far, there has always been a broad consensus that the dual system should not be destroyed. Regarding giving preferential treatment to private patients in doctor appointment scheduling, Laumann stressed that Germany needs overall better patient control.

This is evident from the fact that Germany has a billion doctor-patient contacts per year. "There's no other country, comparable country." Better patient control should apply to private patients as well.