{
  "id": 10246140,
  "title": "Bundesregierung: Linnemann gegen Pflegedeckel - Warum die Koalition streitet",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/bundesregierung-linnemann-gegen-pflegedeckel-warum-die-koalition",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-27T15:47:05.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Handelsblatt",
    "slug": "handelsblatt",
    "url": "https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deutschland/bundesregierung-linnemann-gegen-pflegedeckel-warum-die-koalition-streitet/100257750.html"
  },
  "original_language": "de",
  "account": "The Union and SPD are embroiled in a significant dispute over the proposed care reform, as reported by the ARD station. Health Minister Carsten Linnemann (CDU) has rejected the SPD's demand for a \"care cover\" on the show \"Berlin Report\". The SPD had threatened to block Linnemann's austerity plans, which the new cabinet chief plans to bring to the cabinet on Wednesday. Only a week after the regional elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, which were partly disastrous for the ruling parties, the coalition's reform engine is being set back again. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) had said after the election closure that decisions could not be postponed, but had to come. However, for the care reform, SPD faction leader Matthias Miersch stated in \"Bild\" on the weekend that a purely cut package would not be accepted by the SPD Bundestag fraction. Necessary structural reforms were missing, which could and must change. Linnemann criticized the open dispute, stating that it was not unusual. He pointed out that the recent health insurance reform had only been agreed upon two hours before being brought to the cabinet. Linnemann assured that \"no one wants cuts\". He reminded that the care insurance had borrowed five billion euros from the state during the Corona pandemic. \"There was a promise that the money would come back, the so-called Corona aids\", said Linnemann to the SPD Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil. What specific change the SPD is demanding is two: a \"fair contribution\" from private insurers, as Miersch called it, and a care cover. Miersch, Schmidt, and General Secretary Tim Klüssendorf emphasize the goal of a kind of citizens' insurance in care. Private care insurance has a structurally favorable insured structure, explained SPD faction deputy Dagmar Schmidt. \"That's why we want a common solidarity system or at least a fair financial compensation between private and social care insurance\", Schmidt told dpa. The CSU Land Groups chief Alexander Hoffmann rejects a \"dig into private care insurance\", as he told the \"Augsburger Allgemeine\". He sent a warning to the coalition partner: \"The care reform must come and take effect at the stroke of midnight\". People must be protected from excessive burdens and at the same time steady increases in labor costs be maintained. What would a care cover bring? The proposed care cover aims to counteract the ever-increasing rise in out-of-pocket expenses for a place in a home. It would limit care costs to 1,500 euros, as Saar Health Minister Magnus Jung (SPD) wrote to his countrymen. The brief is published in the dpa. In total, the costs for a home spot for sufferers or relatives have risen to an average of 3,364 euros per month by July. Pure care costs make up an average of 1,775 euros, in individual federal states up to 2,000 euros. With the proposed 1,500-euro cover, hundreds of euros would be saved on this item. However, accommodation and catering costs as well as investments still come into play, which today average 1,607 euros. In a next expansion, the SPD envisions greater relief. The dispute continues, with Linnemann confirming his plan that structural reforms should only be debated in a commission after the now announced law in October. The aim is to provide first aid so that care seekers continue to receive their benefits and contributions remain stable. Niedersachsen's Minister-President Olaf Lies (SPD) says reforms are \"necessary\", but first structures must be reformed, not cuts and increased burdens. Lies also warned against rising costs for the emergency communities facing rising out-of-pocket expenses. The public is aware that the Health Minister, Nina Warken (CDU), has taken over the health portfolio from Linnemann. At the out-of-pocket expenses, Linnemann wants the stages of progressive relief subsidies to be stretched temporally for the affected people. Restrictions on joint insurers' free coverage and a stricter classification into care grades were also planned. The care insurers warned the SPD not to block the care reform. \"Not acting would be fatal\", said Oliver Blatt, the head of the insurers' association, quoted by the dpa. \"In care, the alarm has been raised to red. By year-end, a deficit of 4.4 billion euros will accumulate. \"In a few months, the money will simply be gone.\" The designate for the Federal Government for Care, Katrin Staffler (CSU), said: \"The SPD's ever new proposals are delaying the urgently needed care reform\", endangering the financial stability of the care insurance and thus the security of provision for millions of care seekers.",
  "summary": "Reine Sparvorschläge will die SPD bei der Pflege nicht mitmachen. Doch von einem sozialdemokratischen Gegenvorschlag hält der CDU-Gesundheitsminister nichts. Wie der Koalitionsstreit endet, ist offen.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}