Care Allowance Calculator

Long-term care insurance is one of the most opaque corners of the social system. As soon as someone needs care, terms rain down on the family: care allowance, care in kind, combination benefit, relief amount, respite care, short-term care. Each benefit has its own amounts and rules, and everything depends on the care level. The care allowance calculator brings order to this thicket and shows you in black and white what you are entitled to.

It all starts with the care level. In an assessment the medical service rates six areas of life with points - from mobility through self-care to structuring daily life. The more points, the higher the care level from 1 to 5. The calculator explains this system and the thresholds so you get a realistic idea of which level is likely in your situation.

On money the tool cleanly distinguishes between the two basic forms. Care allowance is the cash benefit for home care by relatives and in 2026 amounts, depending on level, to 347 euros (level 2), 599 euros (level 3), 800 euros (level 4) or 990 euros (level 5). Care in kind, by contrast, is intended for professional care services and is considerably higher, from 796 euros at level 2 to 2,299 euros at level 5.

The key for many families is the combination benefit. You do not have to choose between family care and a care service but can mix both: if, for example, you use only half of your in-kind benefit for an outpatient service, you still get half of the care allowance paid out proportionally. The calculator plays through this combination and shows how much money remains at which split.

Then there are the benefits that are easily forgotten. The relief amount of 131 euros a month is available to everyone from level 1 and can be used for everyday help, care or household-related services. Respite care (up to 1,685 euros a year) steps in when the carer needs a holiday or is ill, short-term care (up to 1,854 euros a year) covers a temporary inpatient stay. The calculator lists these entitlements with their annual amounts.

It remains important: at care level 1 there is neither care allowance nor in-kind benefits, only the relief amount and some further help. And the calculator is simplified guidance, not an approval. Your care insurer decides bindingly on the basis of the assessment. But to understand what is possible at all and which applications are worthwhile, the tool is the right first step - free and entirely in your browser.