Health Insurance Funds
The costs of an autism diagnostic are covered by the health insurance funds in Germany. Furthermore, in addition to day-care and inpatient child and adolescent psychiatric treatments, medical therapies as well as non-specific measures such as ergotherapy, logopedics or physiotherapy are also financed by the health insurance funds. Similarly, health insurance funds so-called “guideline psychotherapy,” although this is offered less for young children with major developmental delays than for high-functioning, verbal adolescents and adults. It usually addresses self-discovery, concomitant disorders, and individual symptoms such as compulsions and anxiety, rather the autism itself. Services, wait times, and capacity vary widely by region.
Local and Supra-Local Social Welfare Agencies/Youth Welfare Offices
However, for autism-specific therapies in the narrow sense, there is no clear and nationwide uniform regulation of responsibility. Depending on the federal state, responsibility lies with the local social welfare office or the supra-local social welfare agency (in North Rhine Westphalia, the LWL and LVR). The youth welfare office may also be responsible, especially for school children without intelligence impairment. The application can be submitted informally to the respective institution.
If an integration specialist is required for school assistance, Link to Integration Specialist/School Assistant this can also be applied and paid for via the responsible social welfare agency or the responsible youth welfare office. This also applies to the use of family support services. link to relief offers in everyday life
If you need support in coping with everyday life through a social pedagogical family assistance link to relief offers in everyday life, the costs are covered after prior application and approval by the responsible youth welfare office.
Personal Budget
Another option for financing therapy and support services is the personal budget. From this budget, the persons concerned can select and pay for the providers of assistance measures themselves and are not restricted to cost units offers of contribution in kind and services. The personal budget can be applied for at all rehabilitation agencies (§ 6 SGB IX), for example the local social or youth welfare office. You can find more information here: https://www.bmas.de/DE/Soziales/Teilhabe-und-Inklusion/Persoenliches-Budget/persoenliches-budget.html