German police have uncovered major embezzlement in the care system for elderly and infirm residents of Germany
Monthly contributions to this insurance fund are moderate – just over two percent of salary. But the money in the system – given over 43 million workers in Germany – is enormous. And where there is big money, there are those eager to profit at public expense. And according to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), a particularly large number of them are immigrants from the former USSR.
Currently, there are more than 14,000 care companies for the elderly in Germany. In Berlin alone, there are about 600. Among them are large ones, for example, RENAFAN, which has branches in a dozen German cities. But the vast majority of such enterprises are medium and small, even tiny, where besides the owner there are only a couple of employees.
That there are many "Russian" among such firms is not surprising. For enterprising immigrants from the former USSR who have poor German language skills, starting their own flege is sometimes the only way, as they say, to "get off social welfare" and get down to business. After all, Russian-speaking migrants in Germany are increasing, and they too are aging, meaning they need care.
As for their increased propensity for fraud in this area, experts attribute it to the lowered criminal threshold of former Soviet citizens, their specific socialization. It is much easier to take extra from the public, i.e., "no one's" till than to steal money from a specific person.
Opening your own flege in Germany does not require great intelligence or special education. It is more difficult with the staff required by law. A person who has completed six-month courses as a care assistant can still be found. But to become a qualified nurse with a state license, you need to study almost like a doctor – three years, and even longer to be allowed to settle accounts with insurance funds.
But most importantly, clients are needed. Although Germany is aging, there are still not enough infirm old people for everyone who wants to care for them – or more precisely, make money from them. Therefore, companies, as an insider told Deutsche Welle, sometimes poach them from each other with the help of simple kickbacks. A grandmother (or her guardian) signs a contract for care services, and in return receives a "compliment" from the company.
The BKA, which conducted an investigation over several months, also identified among immigrants from the former USSR a number of pensioners who successfully simulated the need for care and received money from a related flege, although they did not use its services. The company submitted fictitious reports for payment to the insurance fund.
The newspaper Berliner Zeitung recalled one such case. Berlin-based company Herz & Seele GmbH received between 900 and 1,400 euros per month for caring for an elderly person. When inspectors came to his home, the old man sat apathetically in a wheelchair, wearing a warm hat in the heat, dropped his cup, spoke with difficulty and only in Russian, although he had previously worked as a doctor in German hospitals.
The fraudster was only exposed after he decided to stand as a candidate in local elections. The candidate stood confidently at the podium and spoke German fluently. The total damage amounted to 6.8 million euros. The company was closed. By the way, according to the Berlin Senate, immigrants from the former USSR are seven times more likely to need care than all other Berliners.
But the most common practice is billing the insurance fund for outpatient care services that were not provided in full. How to check how much time a helper spent with an infirm grandmother who is entitled to many hours of daily care?
An employee of one Berlin care company told Deutsche Welle on condition of anonymity about such a, in his words, very common scheme. The company agrees with the client that its employee will come to the client's home to help with household chores not every day, but only once or twice a week. For this, the client is paid 100-200 euros per month, which is a significant amount for a pensioner. The company's costs for such care are no more than 1,000 euros, but it bills the fund for 4,000. "The game is worth the candle," the insider explains. "The temptation for those who open a care company for the sake of profit is too great, and the risk of being caught is minimal."
But such machinations are, after all, more like petty fraud. Criminals make really big money on severe patients – those in a coma, bedridden, or dependent on life-support machines.
The profit margin here reaches 50 percent, making such a "business" as profitable as drug or human trafficking. In this area, according to the BKA, it is no longer small-time crooks operating, but well-organized criminal groups, and their traces, police say, sometimes lead to Russia.
In Germany, there are approximately 19,000 patients requiring round-the-clock care. Each costs the insurance fund an average of 22,000 euros per month. These people live out their days not in hospitals, but in specially equipped "communal apartments." Some have equipment installed at home. According to current German standards, round-the-clock care for such a client requires 5 highly qualified specialists working in shifts.
Mafia structures seek out relatives of these patients and offer them a deal: you take on the care yourself, we pay you a "fee," and our nurse only comes to you a couple of times a day. And such a visit is made not by a qualified specialist who needs to be paid a decent salary, but by a care assistant with a meager wage. Meanwhile, they collect the full amount from the fund, pocketing 15,000 euros out of 22,000.
Overall, the damage from abuse and fraud in the care of the elderly, the BKA estimates, exceeds one billion euros per year.