Moving to a nursing home is often a big step: But how much wealth is actually allowed when pensioners come to the nursing home? And what about family members?
Hamburg/Berlin – Nursing homes are expensive. This is no secret and is the reason why people in Germany regularly pay into long-term care insurance from an early age. However, because the health insurers do not take over everything and state subsidies are not enough for pensioners, pensioners or nursing home residents are also required to make their own contribution.
The bill for the nursing home is usually high, the assets in old age due to Old-age poverty and inflation at its peak, on the other hand. Nevertheless, retirees do not have to worry that their account balance will sink into the red as a result. A certain amount that nursing home residents can have in the account is protected.
| Furnishings | Nursing home |
| cost recovery | Nursing care fund, personal contribution from pension and assets |
| state welfare | Help with care when pension and assets are not enough |
| Savings amount/savings assets | 5,000 per person + possibly real estate |
Own contribution to the nursing home: This is how pensioners defray the high costs
Anyone who lives in a nursing home, whether short-term or long-term, has to pay a personal contribution to the costs. In order to cover these costs, those affected must draw on their cash assets and their pension as well as their assets in the form of stocks, land or real estate. If you don’t have anything of the kind, social assistance will help you to bear the costs.
Die social care takes effect as soon as the pension, which will be reduced in 2023 due to taxes, is not sufficient to pay the nursing home fees and there are no other assets. With the exception of pocket money of 121.23 euros per month (as of December 2022), the entire pension, including widows’ and widowers’ pensions or other types of pensions, must be used to cover the costs of the nursing home before an application for “care assistance” can be submitted.
Nursing home costs vary from place to place and can also differ depending on the location of the room and the location of the home. According to pflege.de, the average personal contribution for nursing homes in 2022 was around 2,179 euros.
Nursing Home Expenses: These assets in the account are protected
In most cases, nursing home residents have to pay at least 2,000 euros for their stay in the home. In order to settle this sum, the Assets and reserves of the respective person used.
However, there is a so-called protective property that is protected and that residents are allowed to keep in any case. The allowance for those in need of care is currently 5,000 euros (as of December 2022). The spouse may also have the same amount in the account without having to use it to cover costs. In the case of married couples, this results in an allowance of 10,000 euros. If only one spouse lives in the nursing home and the other still in their own property, this is also protected and counts as part of the protected assets, provided that it is appropriate and not an above-average home.
Parental support: What can children earn so that they do not have to pay for care?
If the money from the care fund the basic pension and personal assets of the nursing home resident are not sufficient, the state social assistance takes effect first. However, it may be that they reclaim the costs from the children of the residents.
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This occurs when the relatives of the person requiring care have a gross annual income of more than 100,000 euros. Then social welfare will only advance the costs to the nursing home, which then have to be reimbursed by the relatives.
If a resident, for example a pensioner, has several relatives, for example children, who earn more than 100,000 euros a year, the amount is calculated pro rata. If only one sibling exceeds the income limit, it alone pays the parental maintenance according to its means and does not have to pay the siblings’ share.
