When a staircase becomes an insurmountable cliff in the event of a handicap and has to be bridged by a stairlift, modifications must be made to make it easier to change the floor. However, the nursing care insurance, in this case, a private insurance company, does not always pay, the German Bar Association (DAV) expressly points out. In the present case, the Social Court of Osnabrück denied the woman’s claim to a subsidy of 5,500 euros from her private nursing care insurance in its ruling after a woman complained that she had to use a stairlift to get to a massage chair and a hanging swing in the basement. In fact, the insurance company refused to pay for this transport option for the woman concerned because she did not recognize the added therapeutic value. Although the woman was considerably restricted in her freedom of movement, it was not so much that only the reconstruction could have preserved the possibility of independent life. The massage chair, the judges continued in their reasoning for the judgment, could just as well have been placed in the living room, because then the affected woman, who simply had the conversion to alleviate her complaints, would not have to be transported to the cellar. However, the alleviation of her disability is not an argument for getting the subsidy from the nursing care insurance. That is why private nursing care insurance refused to pay in this respect. Accordingly, people in need of care are only paid for conversions if the care is at least made easier or if this gives them the opportunity to lead an independent life.
