If your private caregiver is ill, on vacation or temporarily unable to care for you for other reasons, your care insurance fund will pay the costs of substitute care upon application. A family member or an outpatient care service, for example, can provide this replacement care. Substitute care is sometimes also called respite care.

To be entitled to substitute care, at the time of application you must

• be classified in care level 2, 3, 4 or 5 and
• have been cared for at home by the unavailable carer for at least 6 months.
• Care grade 2 does not have to have already existed during the 6-month previous care period.
• It is not necessary for the same carer to have cared for the person in need of care for 6 months.
• The replacement care must be able to be provided by the replacement caregiver to the extent of the respective care degree.
• You can apply for substitute care for a total of up to 42 days per calendar year. Replacement care is possible both
• by the hour, if your carer is unable to work for less than 8 hours, or
• by the day.

The amount up to which your care insurance fund will reimburse the costs depends on who is providing the replacement care.

• If a family member up to the second degree or a person living in your household provides substitute care, proven costs can be reimbursed up to 1.5 times the care allowance, i.e:
  • EUR 474.00 for care level 2
  • EUR 817.50 for care level 3
  • EUR 1,092.50 for care level 4
  • EUR 1,351.50 for care level 5.
• For all other persons or a care service, up to EUR 1,612.00 will be reimbursed.
• Alternatively, substitute care can be provided in an inpatient facility such as a nursing home. Here too, the care insurance fund pays a maximum of EUR 1,612.00 of the costs.

If the close family member or the person living in your household incurs expenses such as travel expenses or loss of earnings as a result of the substitute care, the long-term care insurance fund can also increase the reimbursement amount to up to EUR 1,612.00.

Half of your previous care allowance will continue to be paid for the period of substitute care.

You can top up benefits for substitute care with up to 50 percent of your annual entitlement to short-term care. Your entitlement to short-term care is then reduced accordingly. You can find out how you can combine the benefits from your care insurance fund or from recognized advice centres, such as care support centres.