Apply for Home Care for People with Disabilities Covered by Long-Term Care Insurance

Are you a person with a disability living in a residential home or another full-time residential facility that enables you to participate in social life and supports your integration into the workforce? If so, your long-term care insurance provider will cover 15 percent of the costs under certain conditions.

However, the long-term care insurance fund pays a maximum of EUR 266.00 per month. You are responsible for the remaining costs. If your income is insufficient to cover these costs, you are eligible for benefits under the Basic Income Security Program for the Elderly and Persons with Reduced Earning Capacity or for housing assistance. To receive these benefits, you must submit an application to the social assistance agency. This is usually the social services office in your place of residence.

This also applies to special types of housing, such as a residential home or a group home for people with disabilities. In such cases,

• the focus is on communal living and integration into society,
• the Housing and Care Act applies, and
• the level of care provided is largely equivalent to that provided in a full-time inpatient facility.

If you are at home with your family members on the weekend or during vacation, you are entitled to the following benefits for that period:

• Long-term care benefits in kind: This refers to the services provided by an outpatient care agency. Your entitlement to long-term care benefits in kind is reduced by the amount that the long-term care insurance fund pays that month for your stay in a residential care facility or boarding school. For example, if you are at home for 10 days in a month, the amount your long-term care insurance fund paid for the 20 days you spent in a residential care facility or boarding school will be deducted from the monthly amount of benefits in kind to which you are entitled.
• Care Allowance: If you receive support from family members or volunteers while at home, you may be eligible for a care allowance. For each day you spend at home, you’ll receive 1/30 of the monthly care allowance. The day of arrival and the day of departure each count as a full day at home. You’ll also receive the care allowance even if you’re receiving in-kind care benefits at the same time. This will not reduce your care allowance.