Liquidity of the social nursing care insurance secured

11.08.2022 10:23

In order to ensure their liquidity, the Federal Office for Social Security has provided the social nursing care insurance (SPV) with a loan of one billion euros. The amount has now been transferred to the social care insurance compensation fund. The reason for the liquidity bottlenecks is primarily pandemic-related expenses for the protection of those in need of care, employees in care and caring relatives (care protection shield, test costs, etc.). In the event of financial bottlenecks of this kind, loans during the year are also possible this year (Section 12 Paragraph 4a of the 2022 Budget Act).

Background: The SPV had already ended 2021 with a deficit of €1.35 billion. Revenue was €52.5 billion (2020: €50.62 billion). Spending increased from €49.08 billion to €53.85 billion. At the end of 2021, the SPV still had funds of €6.85 billion, which corresponds to 1.6 months of expenditure. However, in the first six months of 2022 there was already a deficit of €1.95 billion. This means that the funds available at the end of June only amounted to €4.9 billion. According to the nursing care funds' budget plans, this amount of funds corresponds to around 1.1 months of expenditure and is therefore only just below the current working capital and reserve target with a reduced expenditure coverage ratio. In July itself there was a deficit of €651 million. The main cause of the deficit is the pandemic-related expenses for the nursing care protection shield in accordance with Section 150 SGB XI with total net costs up to and including June of around €1.15 billion. In addition, there were reimbursements for test costs as part of the test regulation, which amounted to around €1.18 billion in the first six months of the year.

In order to secure the finances of long-term care insurance in the long term, the Federal Ministry of Health is working on reform proposals that are to be presented this year.