General Legal Regulations
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The Asylum Seekers Benefits Act
Asylum seekers are not automatically covered by health insurance. However, this does not mean that they will not be helped in the event of illness 1. State authorities, such as the Social Welfare or Health Office, then regulate health services 2.The Asylum Seekers Benefits Act (AsylbGL) defines different levels of benefits depending on the duration and status of residence.
If you would like to get an overview of the regulations defined there, you can easily navigate between the paragraphs here .The respective federal states and their authorities are responsible for the implementation of the pension benefits. Two central models need to be distinguished:
- Support by purely government agencies: Treatment certificates
- Support by statutory health insurance funds: electronic health card
Support by government agencies
Within the first 15 months (waiting period) after arrival in Germany, the health care of fugitives is not equivalent to the benefits of legally insured citizens 4. Some federal states regulate the health care benefits during the waiting period by issuing treatment certificates. These are issued by the Social Welfare Office or other government agencies 5. In which cases a person is entitled to the issuance of such a certificate is in fact a matter of interpretation, since § 4 and § 6 of the AsylbLG are formulated as general provisions.
- acute diseases and those in urgent need of treatment
- pain states
- pregnancy
- vaccinations
- preventive medical examinations 6
Support by statutory health insurance funds
At the end of the first 15 months in Germany, fugitives are granted care by statutory health insurance funds. In this case, however, asylum seekers also have to pay co-payments for the health insurance benefits 7.Upon receiving the electronic health card, asylum seekers are entitled to almost the same benefits as legally insured citizens of Germany 8. However, the electronic health card does not exist in all federal states. You can read more about the electronic health card in the next chapters.
Exceptions
Some federal states have decided to allow asylum seekers to receive care from the health insurance funds before the first 15 months have passed. At the moment, the following federal states have made such an exception:
Berlin Brandenburg Lower Saxony North Rhine-Westphalia Schleswig-Holstein Rhineland-Palatinate
All derogations use similar approaches but differ in details. Read more about them here .
Footnotes
- https://www.gkv-spitzenverband.de/presse/themen/fluechtlinge_asylbewerber/fluechtlinge.jsp
- https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/fileadmin/Dateien/5_Publikationen/Gesundheit/Broschueren/Ratgeber_Asylsuchende_DE_web.pdf
- https://www.gkv-spitzenverband.de/presse/themen/fluechtlinge_asylbewerber/fluechtlinge.jsp
- https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/gesundheit-pflege/aerzte-und-kliniken/medizinische-versorgung-von-asylbewerbern-12312
- https://www.gkv-spitzenverband.de/presse/themen/fluechtlinge_asylbewerber/fluechtlinge.jsp
- https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/asylblg/__4.html
- https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/gesundheit-pflege/aerzte-und-kliniken/medizinische-versorgung-von-asylbewerbern-12312
- https://www.krankenkassenzentrale.de/wiki/fluechtlinge#