The BARMER Care Report, which is published annually, assesses current care policy and documents the care situation. For the report, Professor Heinz Rothgang and Dr. Rolf Müller from the SOCIUM at the University of Bremen comprehensively evaluated data from care and health insurance statistics as well as from the BARMER health insurance company. The result: People in need of care are receiving care for ever increasing periods of time, which means that costs are continuing to rise.

People Require Care for Longer – Care Costs Will Continue to Rise

This year's main chapter focuses on the increasing duration of care and the associated costs that can be expected for the care system. A comparison of the data for people requiring care who died in 2022 with projections of the care duration for people who became newly in need of care in 2022 shows that a significant increase in care duration is to be expected. Of the BARMER policyholders who died in 2022, 77% received care insurance benefits. These benefits were received for an average of 3.8 years. For those requiring care for the first time in 2022, the duration of this care is calculated from the cross-sectional data using the life table method – the same method used by the Federal Statistical Office to calculate the life expectancy of newborns. According to this method, the duration of care for those needing it for the first time in 2022 is expected to be 7.5 years, which is almost twice as long.

The increased duration of care is also a consequence of the expanded definition of the need for care, according to which physically, cognitively, and mentally impaired people are treated equally and therefore receive care services earlier and thus for longer. Overall, the authors come to the conclusion that the duration of care will increase by 100 percent and expenditure by 50 percent. Expenditure will rise less sharply, as the additional periods of care dependency are mainly spent in lower care grades and with the receipt of care allowance, which entails significantly lower expenditure than care services provided by outpatient care services or residential care.

Long-term Funding Security Required for Long-Term Care Insurance

In addition to the increasing number of people in need of care due to demographic developments over the next few years and the rising costs due to more staff and higher wages in the care sector, longer periods of care must also be taken into account in the development of care costs. As a result of the latter, the total expenditure of social long-term care insurance per person in need of care will also increase. Long-term care insurance needs significantly more financial resources in the future. “The recently initiated increase in contributions by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach can only provide short-term relief and at best bridge the coming year. Long-term funding security requires funding from tax revenue and financial equalization with private care insurance,” commented Professor Rothgang following the publication of the Care Report.

Further Information:

2024 BARMER Care Report (in German only): https://www.barmer.de/presse/infothek/studien-und-reporte/pflegereport?redirect=pflegereport

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Heinz Rothgang
SOCIUM – Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy
Phone: +49 421 218-58557
Email: rothgangprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de

Dr. rer. pol. Rolf Müller
SOCIUM – Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy
Phone: +49 421 218-58554
Email: rmintprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de