Now also the SPD. Finally, you might say. After the Green Party’s top candidate Robert Habeck made a spontaneous move in the last federal election campaign and the Left faction submitted a motion for a resolution on this to the Bundestag a few months ago, the SPD now also wants to reorganize the financing of statutory health insurance and, in addition to wages and salaries, also use rental income and investment income to calculate contributions. Such a step is not only appropriate, but long overdue for a party that claims to represent employee interests and wants to be up to date with the times and the discussion.
Those who have not yet made a fair contribution to it must also be involved in financing the health system, according to a paper approved by the board. The aim is to find a solution that covers all types of income, including rental and capital income.
The diagnosis is correct
Even if the SPD raises more questions than it answers with this still very vague initiative, the political signal is important. It is the realization that our health insurance is in fact nowhere near as solidarity-based as always claimed. It is the recognition that our national wealth not only includes employee compensation but, depending on the period, a quarter to a third also consists of corporate profits and income from investments. And ultimately it is the diagnosis that it will not be possible to find sustainable solutions to the financing problems of our health system on long-worn paths.
With this recognition, the German Social Democrats are in a promising starting position to be able to move from the camp of structural conservatives to the camp of real reformers. That means: from the camp of those whose primary response to the challenges of our welfare state is to dismantle and limit it, to the camp of those who rely on the feasibility of solidarity and fair political concepts.
Major reforms are necessary
date: 2026-02-12 13:24:00
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