(de-news.net) The Social Democratic Party (SPD) has outlined a package of measures to restructure the financing of health care and long-term care following a two-day leadership retreat in Berlin. Party leader Bärbel Bas argued that the existing funding model relies too heavily on wages and salaries and therefore distributes financial burdens unevenly across society. From the SPD’s perspective, long-term sustainability and fairness would require a gradual expansion of the contribution base to encompass all sources of income. Under the proposed framework, rental income and capital income would be systematically included in health care financing. At present, such non-wage income is generally taken into account only for voluntary members of the statutory health insurance system and even then only up to the legally defined contribution assessment ceiling. According to a resolution adopted by the party executive, broadening the revenue base is intended to stabilize the system and, over time, allow for lower contribution rates without reducing benefits.
Consistent with the guiding principle that everyone who participates in the labor market should contribute, the reform package also proposes extending mandatory participation in the public pension system to civil servants, self-employed individuals, and elected officials. Bas linked this proposal explicitly to questions of democratic legitimacy, arguing that citizens’ trust in democratic institutions depends on the perceived fairness and completeness of the welfare state. In this framing, comprehensive reform is presented as preferable to incremental or piecemeal adjustments, with pension and health financing treated as core elements of a broader modernization agenda.
A broader income base for health care while reinforcing pension guarantees
In parallel, the SPD has put forward the idea of a new levy to support the financing of health and long-term care through a policy paper prepared for the party’s executive committee. The document is based on an interim report by the SPD’s internal social policy commission and has been widely cited by various media outlets. Its central argument is that the current system places a disproportionate burden on labor income, creating financial pressure for many households and weakening social equity. As a corrective, the proposed restructuring seeks to shift part of the financing load away from payroll-based contributions while drawing in income streams that have so far made only a limited contribution to the system.
Although the language of the proposal is largely technical, its implications would amount to a significant reorientation of health policy. Capital returns and rental income, which currently play only a marginal and capped role within statutory insurance, would be incorporated in a more systematic and predictable manner. Pension policy is presented as the second major pillar of reform. This includes restricting new civil service appointments to essential sovereign functions, extending mandatory pension coverage to groups that have previously been exempt, and safeguarding the pension level at no less than 48 percent beyond 2031. At the same time, the SPD reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that retirees continue to benefit from overall wage growth and explicitly rejects proposals that would link pension adjustments solely to inflation.
Wealth taxation and social equity linked to long-term economic stability
Beyond social insurance, the SPD’s economic policy platform frames rising inequality and tax disparities as key drivers of social discontent and calls for a stronger contribution from high-wealth individuals to the financing of public goods. The document emphasizes that an equitable tax system is a crucial instrument for addressing the concentration of wealth, particularly in situations where very large inheritances are taxed at lower effective rates than those borne by average households. Alongside fairer taxation of substantial assets and fortunes, the party also advocates targeted income tax relief for low- and middle-income earners as part of a balanced redistribution strategy.
Without naming specific actors, the text implicitly addresses conservative coalition partners by warning against policy approaches that equate economic competitiveness with wage restraint or cuts to the welfare state. According to the SPD’s analysis, past reliance on tax-cut competition has weakened public investment capacity and contributed to widening inequality. Similarly, demands for longer working hours or restrictions on part-time employment are criticized for disregarding social realities. Instead, the party argues that expanding childcare provision and promoting more flexible working-time arrangements would better enable higher labor participation by allowing individuals to reconcile employment with family responsibilities, care obligations, and health-related needs.
