Statutory nursing insurance

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To finance home care and nursing, benefits from long-term care insurance can be claimed under the law. For this purpose, those in need of care must submit applications to the statutory long-term care insurance fund. The determined care degree decides the amount of financial support.

These are the maximum amounts that are available. These are always to be checked individually. The amount of money depends u. a. depends on whether services have already been used or will become permanent.

Nursing care

The care allowance applies to care in your own home. The nursing care insurance pays the money directly to the person in need of care.

What is meant by combined care? Combination care means that a proportionate care allowance can be drawn AND a care service can be used for home care. This results in a combination of cash benefits and benefits in kind. Example: an outpatient nursing service can be used to provide additional care. The benefits are combined proportionally.
How is the combination benefit calculated? The calculation for the combination care takes place on a percentage basis on the basis of the care benefit in kind taken up. Example: 60% benefit in kind is claimed, which means in this case that care allowance is paid proportionately in the amount of 40%.

Relief services

All persons in need of care in home care are entitled to 125.00 euros per month as a relief benefit. This payment is independent of the care degree. This subsidy is earmarked for a specific purpose and can only be used for the legally standardized non-cash benefits. The relief amount can be used for the reimbursement of services provided by outpatient care services.

  • Care
  • home help
  • Assistance with personal hygiene

Unused amounts must be claimed in the following calendar half-year at the latest, otherwise they expire.

Relief benefits cannot be claimed in advance.

The benefit is reimbursed retroactively, but not paid in advance.

Receipts must be submitted to the nursing care insurance fund for reimbursement of costs.

Preventive care

The caregiver is ill or on vacation. In these cases, an entitlement to preventive care arises.

This is referred to as substitute care,

  • if the care takes place at home,
  • the caregiver is incapacitated and
  • the care is carried out by another person as a substitute.
  • At least care level 2
  • The caregiver has cared for the person in need of care in his or her home environment for at least six months prior to the initial incapacitation.

The entitlement to substitute care is a maximum of 6 weeks (42 days) per year and is available to those in need of care with care level 2 or higher. You receive a financial reimbursement of 1.612 euros, which can be distributed as desired over the six weeks of prevention time.

For substitute care, the amount of 1612 euros can be topped up by an additional 50% of the unused short-term care budget. This is 806 euros. Thus, the total amount provided for care substitution increases to 2.418 euros.

During the period of preventive care, the care allowance is reduced by 50%. Preventive care can also be claimed on an hourly basis. For example, in the case of daily hourly care for relatives with dementia who must not be left unsupervised. In this case, there is still an entitlement to the full amount of the care allowance.

Short-term care

The entitlement to short-term care exists if the person in need of care has to be cared for outside their own four walls for a certain period of time – a maximum of 56 days per year. This applies, for example, to patients after an operation or when the home is being converted to make it barrier-free.

From care level 2, the person in need of care is entitled to 1.612 euros per calendar year available. During the period of short-term care, 50% of the care allowance continues to be paid. The amount of short-term care cannot be added up and should be used within one calendar year.

It is possible to credit unused budget of the prevention care and vice versa, to bring the total amount to 3.224 Euro to be topped up.

Transitional care

Transitional care can be claimed if no care degree is available. Example: A patient is discharged after a hospital stay and is unable to care for himself/herself due to an injury or surgery. Another condition is that he has no relatives to take over the care.

Without a nursing degree, according to § 37 Abs. 1a and 39c SGB V care benefits are claimed for up to four weeks.

There is a possibility, under certain conditions, to make a claim for home help and short-term care, this is paid with a financial benefit of up to 1.612 euros and a maximum of eight weeks in a calendar year supports.

Care aids

In order to receive care aids, at least care degree 1 must have been determined. The aids are intended to facilitate the home care of the relative, to alleviate his complaints and to relieve him in everyday life. In order to be reimbursed for the costs of nursing aids up to a maximum of 40 euros per month, an application must be made to the nursing care insurance fund for the costs to be covered. A medical certificate is not necessary in this case.

Care aids are intended for consumption. These are items such as gloves, bed pads, mouth guards, disinfectants, bandages or hygiene pads for incontinence, as well as technical aids such as bathtub lifts, care beds, support cushions, home emergency call systems and standing-up aids.

Expected until 31. December 2020 due to COVID-19 nursing aids are covered with an amount of 60 Euro per month.

Care level 1, what benefits are available?

In care level 1, the person in need of care is considered to have only minor limitations. That is, the independence is still largely guaranteed, but small aids in everyday life are necessary. The goal is to maintain independence as long as possible.

Persons in need of care receive the following benefits:

  • Relief benefits in the amount of 125 euros
  • Nursing aid supplement of up to 40 euros per month
  • 2x annual nursing consultation by a nursing service
  • In inpatient care, additional activity measures that promote mobility
  • Free attendance of care courses for caring relatives
  • One-time subsidy for conversion to barrier-free living amounting to 4.000 Euro

Information on care assistance

Costs that are not covered by long-term care insurance must be borne by those affected themselves. If the pension or the income is too low, the relatives (children) are used for the care costs. Here it is important to note that since 01.01.2020 by law, children only have to pay for their parents' support if their gross annual income is 100.000 euros or higher.

In order to reduce the chargeable income, children can deduct the following items:

  • Illness-related expenses and health care
  • Work-related expenses such as travel costs, materials
  • Loan repayments as well as redemption payments in the case of construction financing of property
  • Maintenance payments to spouse and/or children
  • Private pension costs, up to five percent of gross income
  • Expenses for regular visits by parents in need of care

The deductible can still be deducted from the adjusted net income. The dependent child is entitled to a deductible of 2.700 euros too, of which 700 euros for warm rent. A spouse is responsible for 1 of these expenses.600 euros in addition. The family's deductible therefore amounts to 3.600 Euro.

The person in need of care has no children and cannot afford the costs of care. In this case, the assistance for care takes effect. This means that a social welfare agency assumes the costs in accordance with SGB XII. The requirements for this are:

  • Need for care, where the degree of care has been determined in accordance with § 61a SGB XII.
  • There is no other insurance that covers the costs (supplementary care insurance)
  • No assets in the form of residential property, building society savings contracts or savings books
  • Children do not have enough income to pay for parental care

Tax advantage

The care of relatives often represents a high burden. In order to relieve you financially, the care costs can be deducted from taxes.

The tax considers care costs to be an extraordinary burden.

These expenses can be claimed as an extraordinary burden according to the following rules. §33 EStG deductible from tax. Whether the conditions for tax relief are actually met must be checked in each individual case.

Prerequisite: the relative must either:

  • be cared for in his home
  • Or be placed in a care facility

Care costs can be deducted with proper documentation. Invoices and receipts for the classification of the relative's need for care are required for this purpose. These include, for example:

  • Notification from the nursing care insurance fund
  • Severely Disabled ID
  • Statement from the pension office
  • Receipts for medications, groceries, long-term care devices
  • Caregiver bills

Lump sum care amount

If you care for a relative at your home or in their home, you can use the care lump sum of 924 euros. In order to receive this amount, the person in need of care must have care level 3 or be helpless (sign H on the disability card). In addition, you may not accept payment for care.

If other people are involved in your care, you must provide at least ten percent of the care. The care lump sum is divided among the caregivers.

Care services, household services

So-called household-related care services can also be deducted from taxes. For example, if an outpatient nursing service has been hired to care for the relative. However, only those costs may be deducted that were not covered by the care insurance fund. The IRS deducts 20 percent of actual expenses up to a maximum of 4.000 Euro from the tax.