Impending emergency care ‘Care Riester’ should come while people in Germany in the face of increasingly better medical care on a long life may hope, but at the same time increases the risk of a long-term care greatly with age. Due to the low birth rates, but fewer and fewer young people are ready to finance the German social insurance systems. Also the statutory long-term care insurance can already feel the financial consequences of demographic change. So the number of dependent persons in Germany by 16 percent has risen already on 2.34 million people between 1999 and 2009. Health experts expect even higher to 3.4 million by 2030.

To prevent an impending financial difficulties in times of scarce public resources and rising costs, but at the same time maintain the services, few options remain the State: for all mandatory increase in the contributions to the statutory long-term care insurance or an additional fully-funded voluntary private provision, by State Grants to be funded, and thus more attractive. On the latter approach, the Berlin Government coalition has now agreed. Modeled on the Riester pension, first State-sponsored private care insurance on the market come already from early 2013. The task falls to a private care insurance, to alleviate the regular coverage gap between the services of the statutory long-term care insurance and the actual costs incurred. For example, the statutory long-term care insurance pays monthly only 1,550 euros currently in care level 3 for care in homes, while the actual cost on monthly 3.000 euro.

The difference is to muster by the patient or his relatives. Savings assets can quickly be eaten up in this way, in the worst case of financial ruin threatens. The concept of the Ministry of health stipulates that citizens, the future is a complete voluntary private care insurance, regardless of the income in a minimum receive a State subsidy in the amount of 5 euro from 10 EUR per month.