Inpatient and outpatient care
Child and youth rehabilitation is part of medical care in Germany and takes place in specialized clinics – often on an inpatient basis, but it can also be carried out on an outpatient basis. They usually last four weeks. They are aimed at children and young people with long-term or chronic illnesses or with mental disorders.
Avoid consequential damage and improve quality of life
Health problems can have a strong impact on different areas of life, such as performance in school or training, the social environment, and self-esteem. Rehabilitation offers measures that are tailored to the impairment of the affected children. They can help to get along better in everyday life, at school or in training, in order to improve the quality of life and avoid consequential damage.
Statutory pension insurance bears the costs
The statutory pension insurance covers the rehabilitation costs if parents meet certain requirements. The hurdles are not too high. This is also reflected in the low rejection rate of around 10 percent. “A bigger problem at the moment is that many families and doctors don’t know or don’t think about rehabilitation as a help after corona infections and lockdown,” says Alwin Baumann, spokesman for the Alliance for child and youth rehabilitation. If the pension insurance does not cover the costs, the statutory health insurance may step in.
You might also be interested in
- Our special child-rearing periods answer many questions about pensions for parents.
- Even working people sometimes need rehabilitation. We provide six tips for applying for medical rehab.
- Seniors who are interested in rehabilitation will find a lot of interesting information in our special on geriatric rehabilitation.
- Our special disability pension shows how high the pension is if you can no longer continue your job due to health reasons.
- And what special rules apply to people with severe disabilities can be found in the Special Pension and Severe Disability.
Costs for accompanying person and loss of earnings covered
Travel, accommodation, meals, medical care, therapeutic services and medical applications for the child are paid for. Up to the twelfth birthday, one parent can accompany the child during rehabilitation. If this results in a loss of earnings, parents can apply to the pension insurance company for reimbursement after rehabilitation. In the case of older children, this is only possible if it is medically necessary, for example in the case of children with disabilities.
In general, child and youth rehabilitation is an option up to the child’s 18th birthday. Young adults up to their 27th birthday can apply for rehabilitation if they
- are in school or vocational training and are not yet insured for a pension or
- do a voluntary social or ecological year or the federal voluntary service or
- unable to support themselves because of a disability.
Active. Children need a lot of exercise. © Getty Images / Imgorthand
Lack of exercise in the pandemic
The long-term consequences of corona are not always just psychological in children. It is true that longer-lasting physical effects – the so-called Long Covid – are rather rare in children. However, they do occur and can be treated in specialized rehabilitation clinics, especially in the case of neurological, pneumological and cardiological indications.
“Other children gain weight due to the lack of exercise caused by the pandemic or develop speech and language disorders because care facilities were repeatedly closed,” says Katja Braubach. “Here, too, children’s rehabilitation can counteract this and provide valuable impetus.”