Policy Document

Long-Term Care Insurance Act (from 1945-1990: West Germany)

Year

1995

Country

Germany

Topic

Health

Subtopic

Long-term care

Main implications

From 1 January 1995: Individuals covered under compulsory insurance were liable to pay contributions (1% of gross income).

From 1 April 1995: Introduction of benefits for community-based services.

From 1 July 1996: Introduction of benefits for institutional care; increase of contribution rate to 1.7%.

Beneficiaries were assigned to one of three care levels (substantial disability, severe disability, and very severe disability).

Care Level I: People assigned to this level need help with their personal care, nutrition, or mobility at least once a day for at least two tasks in one or more areas; and additional assistance several times per week in performing household chores.

Care Level II: People assigned to this level need help with their personal care, nutrition, and mobility at least three times a day at different times of the day; as well as additional assistance several times per week for household chores.

Care Level III: People assigned to this level require assistance with their personal care, nutrition, and mobility around the clock; as well as additional assistance several times a week with household chores.

Calculated on a weekly basis, the amount of time required per day must average:

- In Care Level I: not less than 90 minutes, of which more than 45 minutes must involve basic care. - In Care Level II: not less than three hours, of which at least two hours must involve basic care. - In Care Level III: not less than five hours, of which at least four hours must involve basic care.

The monthly amount of benefits:

- Care Level I: up to 750 DM. - Care Level II: up to 1800 DM. - Care Level III: up to 2800 DM.

Payment to caregivers:

- Care Level I: 400 DM. - Care Level II: 800 DM. - Care Level III: 1300 DM.

Benefits & Requirements

Coverage: Eligible groups or beneficiaries

Long-term care was provided for all persons covered by the statutory health insurance system and some special groups subject to certain conditions. Individuals with private health insurance had to buy equivalent private coverage for long-term care. People in need of care who, as a result of a physical, emotional, or a mental disease or handicap, permanently and regularly needed substantial long-term assistance, or to perform usual and regularly recurring activities in their daily lives (two or more activities of daily living; the need for assistance was expected to last at least six months).

Read the Law

Full Text Source in English

Social Security Code, Book I, section 21a; Book IV and Book XI

Original full text source in native language

BGBl. 1994 I:1014

Original full text web source in native language

http://www.bgbl.de/xaver/bgbl/start.xav

Secondary Literature & Sources

Secondary literature

German Social Security Code. Available at: http://www.sozialgesetzbuch-bundessozialhilfegesetz.de.

Author

Data collected by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in the framework of the Population and Policy Database.

Cite as

SPLASH-db.eu (2012): Policy: "Long-Term Care Insurance Act (from 1945-1990: West Germany)" (Information provided by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research). Available at: https://splash-db.eu [Date of access].