Social assistance: health aid

Help for health includes

• preventive health assistance (preventive services),
• help with illness (medical treatment, relief of disease complaints),
• Help with family planning for pregnancy and motherhood as well as assistance with sterilization.

By the Act on the Modernisation of Statutory Health Insurance (GKV-Modernisierungsgesetz - GMG), all social assistance recipients who do not have health insurance have in principle been treated in the same way as those with statutory health insurance with effect from 1 January 2004. They are now treated like "health insurance patients". All recipients of social assistance are now required to make co-payments within the limits of the burden.

The remaining (short-term) recipients of social assistance who do not have health insurance can continue to receive health assistance.