Insurance for nursing homes is generally subpar.
A recent study by German rating agency Franke and Bornberg has evaluated various care pension insurance tariffs, assessing them based on criteria such as benefits, premium stability, transparency, and customer service. Here's a summary of the key findings from the study.
Market Overview
The care pension insurance market in Germany is relatively small, with only three out of every 1,000 people currently holding a care pension insurance policy. Six life insurers dominate this market, including Allianz, Ideal, Swiss Life Deutschland, Volkswohl Bund, WWK, and Zurich Deutscher Herold.
Evaluation Criteria and Results
Franke and Bornberg developed a catalog of 49 test criteria to evaluate the care pension insurance products. They assigned a total score and rating class to each product based on these criteria. In the study, most tariffs fell in the middle range, with no tariff awarded the lowest grade "insufficient" (F-).
The researchers examined 33 independent care pension tariffs with 246 tariff variants. Among them, around 44 percent were from Swiss Life Deutschland, and their tariff variants currently hold the highest rating of "good" (FF+). However, no tariff received a rating of "excellent" or "very good" (FFF+ or FFF). Four tariffs (1.6 percent) were found to be "deficient" (F) by the researchers.
Room for Improvement
Michael Franke, Managing Director of Franke and Bornberg, comments that the overall result is satisfactory but sees room for improvement. He notes that care pension insurance has not been a priority for product developers.
Shortcomings of Mandatory Social Care Insurance
The mandatory social care insurance in Germany falls short of the actual care costs, indicating a need for more comprehensive private care insurance solutions.
Tariff Recommendations
For those seeking detailed and up-to-date rankings of the best care pension insurance tariffs based on Franke and Bornberg's study, these are typically found on their official website or in their published reports. It's recommended to consult Franke and Bornberg’s latest published study or a trusted German insurance comparison portal for the most authoritative and current information.
Market Development
Insurers usually offer a two- or three-tier insurance protection consisting of basic, comfort, and premium products. The stock of care pension insurance contracts in 2020 was 244,000.
For more detailed information on the complete rating result, you can find it here.
In the context of the care pension insurance market, personal-finance decisions can be impacted by the ratings assigned by Franke and Bornberg, considering that their evaluation criteria include benefits, premium stability, transparency, and customer service.
This evaluation also sheds light on the financial aspects of the business, as Swiss Life Deutschland's tariff variants currently hold the highest rating of "good" (FF+), accounting for approximately 44% of the tariffs examined by Franke and Bornberg.
