[The nursing care insurance law].

By establishing an independent statutory nursing care insurance, the security of patients in need of nursing care and the organisation of nursing care will be placed on a new basis. For instance, the bill provides for substantially extended benefits for home care and also includes benefits for long-term care in nursing homes into the general risk pool. The nursing care funds yet to be founded will receive the service guarantee for the organisation of nursing care, negotiate contracts with the respective nursing institutions and monitor their quality. Although the envisaged range of benefits covered by the statutory nursing care insurance has been noticeably extended it remains doubtful whether these benefits will be sufficient or whether there will still be the need for supplemental income support payments for nursing care. Moreover, the set of tools for regulation remains contradictory as the regulating competences of the Federal Government and those of the nursing care funds overlap. The Medical Service of the Statutory Health Insurance will be given extended responsibilities regarding the examination of individual cases, including the determination of the degree of a patient's need for nursing care, checking the possibility of rehabilitation and giving advice for individual care. Apart from that, it will assume new duties in the fields of quality assurance of the nursing care institutions and consulting the nursing care funds.