CDU/CSU Bundestag Group Proposes Requiring Elderly Germans to Use Home Equity Before State Care Support

Albert Stegemann, deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, proposed on May 30 that Germany tighten eligibility rules for state nursing care assistance by requiring elderly citizens to first exhaust personal assets — including residential property — before receiving public support. Stegemann stated: 'Those who own assets must first use their own assets, including their home, before the community pays.' The proposal came amid mounting warnings that Germany's statutory care insurance (Pflegeversicherung) faces a structural deficit of approximately €22 billion over the next two years, driven by an aging population and rising care costs. Under existing law, the primary residence is largely shielded from means-testing for long-term care. Changing this would mark a significant tightening of Germany's social safety net. SPD coalition partners immediately pushed back, with SPD parliamentarians arguing the proposal would force middle-class families who had worked their entire lives to sell their homes, undermining the social contract. Germany's Greens and the Left party also condemned it. Critics noted that the Merz government was simultaneously calling for major tax cuts for businesses while targeting middle-class homeowners for care cost contributions. The proposal intensified debates about Germany's fiscal sustainability amid the Zeitenwende defense spending surge and an aging demographic crisis.