Benefits from the long-term care insurance fund: care benefits in kind and care allowance Home help, personal care and support in everyday life

Are you worried because your parents are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with everyday life on their own? Every time you visit, you notice something new that doesn't work at all - neglected personal hygiene, dirt in every corner, an empty fridge or mountains of dirty laundry? You are always busy trying to get the place in some kind of shape? You wonder if it's because your mother is getting worse at bending over, or your father seems increasingly forgetful? You suspect that they are somehow muddling through, although they are actually already physically very limited? Even if some people don't like to admit it: If you can no longer manage your everyday life on your own, it helps to be classified in a care degree. This entitles them to so-called "care benefits in kind". These allow for professional support in everyday life, for example by an outpatient care service or the local neighbourhood assistance and other approved social services.

Regular counselling visits are obligatory for care allowance recipients. As a rule, these home visits are carried out by accredited care services. They get a picture of the care situation on site and give you supportive advice if necessary, so that you as a caring relative can manage the situation optimally. If your relative has been classified in care level 2 or 3, a counselling visit every six months is obligatory. For care degrees 4 and 5, someone will check up on you every three months.  The costs for this counselling visit are covered by the care insurance fund.

Details on special regulations for civil servants and privately insured persons can be found here: [1], [2]

Every person in need of care who is cared for at home and has been classified in a care degree is entitled to a relief amount of 125 euros per month. If you, as a family caregiver, find that the budget for care benefits in kind is not enough, the relief amount can help. It allows for additional support in everyday life, but with a focus on help with care and household management. You have to pay the money for the household help in advance and later submit the bills to the health insurance fund.

What can be financed with the relief amount? Your relative may use the relief amount to co-finance certain services. These include costs for

• Part-time inpatient care
• Temporary inpatient short-term care, for example, in a retirement home or senior citizens' home.
• approved care services: You have to keep in mind: Only if your relative has only been classified in care level 1, the relief amount may also be used for body-related care measures by a care service. Otherwise (for care degrees 2 to 5), the relief amount may only be used for assistance with care and household management.
• Recognised offers for support in everyday life: The offers that are recognised vary from federal state to federal state. Therefore, you should inform yourself in advance at your long-term care insurance fund. According to the definition of the Federal Ministry of Health, these are, for example, care groups for dementia patients, helpers to relieve care-giving relatives for hours at a time in the home, day care, agencies to arrange care and relief services for people in need of care and care-giving relatives as well as comparable close caregivers, family relief services as well as everyday companions and care companions.

The advantage of the declaration of assignment is that you do not have to collect and submit bills. The disadvantage is that the declaration of assignment only makes sense if you authorise only one provider to bill you. Because: As soon as several providers settle directly with the health insurance fund, it is not clear in the case of a budget overrun whose bill should now be paid by the health insurance fund: the one from the outpatient care service or the one from the neighbourhood help? The one from the self-employed dementia caregiver or the one from the everyday companion? In the worst case, you will end up with a private bill - and you didn't expect it because you thought you were off the hook because of the declaration of assignment for all service providers and didn't think about the costs any more.

Although nationwide every person in need of care has the same amount available for care benefits in kind, depending on the care level: The prices are different for different providers. For example, if you compare the price lists of two care services, a so-called "large toilet" costs 31 euros with one provider, but 35 euros with the other. This means that the bottom line is that you get less service for the capped budget from the expensive provider. Theoretically, you can put the price lists of two care services next to each other and choose the cheaper one. In practice, however, you may not have a choice because the capacities of local outpatient care services vary greatly and are often limited.

The price differences, by the way, are due to the fact that outpatient care services are organised in different associations, which have negotiated different remuneration with the long-term care insurance funds. In addition, personnel costs play a role, which also differ greatly from one federal state to the next. In this respect, a higher price is not an indication that a care service wants to enrich itself.