Hi all,

My partner is having a surgery in a few months which is quite significant – he won’t be able to look after himself or do much of anything for about two weeks, and the hospital has said he’ll need someone to look after him in this time. Luckily I work in a job where taking time off is not a problem, but I won’t be paid for it, which got me wondering if there is some kind of carer’s pay/allowance that I could apply for to make up for lost income. I came across this page on TK (who we’re both insured with): [https://www.tk.de/techniker/leistungen-und-mitgliedschaft/informationen-versicherte/leistungen/entlastung-fuer-familien/haushaltshilfe/familie-verwandte-antrag-haushaltshilfe-verdienstausfall-2008002](https://www.tk.de/techniker/leistungen-und-mitgliedschaft/informationen-versicherte/leistungen/entlastung-fuer-familien/haushaltshilfe/familie-verwandte-antrag-haushaltshilfe-verdienstausfall-2008002)

I called up to ask about how to apply, and was told there is no Anspruch to any pay or any Haushaltshilfe since we have no children.

Can that be right? It seems very strange to me, and I’m not sure what the relevance of having children is? How are you supposed to look after yourself after a big operation if you don’t have a partner or friends/family that can take time off to care for you? I find it very difficult to believe that a hospital will just send you home when you can’t cook for yourself or go to the toilet on your own?

3 comments

  1. Your partner is not alone, you are there. And he won’t be released from hospital in a state of total helplessness. He probably needs some help getting dressed and getting some groceries. Nothing you can’t do even if you work full time.

    If you have kids at home it’s a bit more complicated because small kids can’t grasp that their mom or dad are ill or injured. So in this case you can get a Haushaltshilfe, who supports you a little bit (nothing like 24/7)

  2. The insurance usually has the final say on this. You can also cross-check with other public insurance companies, most likely the response will remain the same.

  3. Nevermind, the other replies sound reasonable.

    ~~https://www.tk.de/techniker/leistungen-und-mitgliedschaft/informationen-versicherte/leistungen/entlastung-fuer-familien/haushaltshilfe/welche-voraussetzungen-zur-haushaltshilfe-gibt-es-2007998~~

    ~~🤷🏻‍♂️~~

    ~~Dude on the phone probably didn’t really get what you wanted?~~

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