Landespflegegeld für blinde und schwerstbehinderte Menschen

The state care allowance for blind and severely disabled people is granted to compensate for handicap-related disadvantages. It is a lump-sum cash benefit.

Blind or severely visually impaired people who have their usual place of residence in Bremen are entitled to financial support to compensate for disability-related disadvantages or additional needs. The state care allowance is paid as a monthly allowance and is independent of income and assets:

• The state care allowance is currently 494.97 euros per month.
• Children under the age of 18 are entitled to a state care allowance of currently 247.49 euros per month from the age of one.
• Blind and severely disabled persons who live in an institution and for whom the costs of their stay are borne in whole or in part by public funds receive 50 percent of the state care allowance. Self-payers who live in an institution are not entitled to the state care allowance. In this case, the benefits provided by the nursing care insurance fund are taken into account in full.
• Benefits from long-term care insurance are fully offset against the state long-term care allowance. As a result, the entitlement to state nursing care benefits may be reduced or eliminated altogether.
• The income- and asset-dependent care and blind assistance benefits according to SGB XII can also be claimed if necessary. The state care allowance is credited in full or in part.

Persons are considered blind if their better eye has a visual acuity of no more than 2 percent or an equivalent limitation.

Severely disabled are the following persons:

1. Persons with disabilities of the upper extremities equivalent to the loss of both hands (faint-handed) with a substantial handicap.
2. Persons with loss of both arms in the area of the upper arms
3. persons with loss of three limbs
4. Persons with paralysis or other disabilities of movement, if the disabilities are equivalent to the loss of three limbs
5. paraplegic people with paralysis of the bladder and rectum
6. brain-damaged persons with severe physical and mental disorders and disabilities of use of several limbs
7. other persons whose condition requiring permanent hospitalization or whose need for care is so exceptional that their disability is comparable to the disability of persons referred to in points 1 to 6.

An ophthalmologist's certificate is required for the application for state care allowance due to blindness. If necessary, an expert examination will be carried out to determine the blindness. For blind people who have the mark Bl on their severely disabled ID card, the eligibility requirements are deemed to be met without an expert examination. A medical certificate and, if applicable, the notification of benefits from the nursing care insurance fund are required for the application for state nursing care allowance due to severe disability (§ 1 Para. 3 LPflGG).

An application for state care allowance can be submitted to the responsible social center of the Office for Social Services or specialized service.

The state care allowance is granted from the month of application.

• No additional payment will be made for past years in which no application was made due to ignorance. Only the date of receipt of the application counts.
• The state care allowance for blind people is income-independent and does not correspond to the social welfare benefit "blind assistance" within the framework of "assistance in other life situations" according to federal law! These are two different services.