German gov’t softens on scrapping health insurance benefits for spouses

The German government recently announced plans to scrap health insurance benefits for married couples. Now, it seems as though the austerity measure won’t be as clear-cut as originally planned.

Germany mulls exemptions for spousal insurance cuts

Germany’s CDU/CSU-SPD government is looking to save money and has announced a series of austerity measures to reduce government spending in the short term.

Among the measures is a plan to scrap “non-contributory dependents insurance”. The policy currently allows employees covered by statutory health insurance to extend their plan to cover a spouse or civil partner who is not working and any children at no extra cost.

The proposal to scrap non-contributory dependents insurance initially came from the Health Finance Commission (FinanzKommission Gesundheit). The commission was established by the Health Ministry in late 2025 and tasked with recommending austerity measures. 

In late March, Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) said the government would follow the commission’s recommendation and scrap non-contributory dependents insurance, among other suggestions. "We will essentially stick to what the commission proposes," Warken said.

Following trade union protests and widespread public discussion about the policy proposal, Warken and SPD colleagues seem to be reconsidering. According to SPIEGEL, the government is exploring whether certain groups would be exempt from the cuts and still be allowed to benefit from non-contributory dependents insurance.

Warken will not adopt proposals “one-to-one”

Speaking to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Warken said that she did not plan to adopt the commission’s proposals “one-to-one” and that “no one should be unduly burdened”.

Under the plans proposed so far, the three million spouses and partners currently covered would instead have to pay a flat rate of 225 euros per month for statutory health insurance and long-term care insurance.

This amounts to an annual household expense of 2.700 euros, which would be charged regardless of household income, meaning lower-income households would be disproportionately affected.

Speaking to SPIEGEL, parliamentary secretary Dirk Wiese (SPD) acknowledged that “there were situations that make gainful employment difficult or even impossible” for both spouses, such as local shortages of childcare or the obligation to care for elderly relatives. 

Wiese said the government takes these care obligations “very seriously”. How far the government decides to cut non-contributory dependents insurance and which groups may be exempt remains to be seen.