As of: January 20, 2024, 7:05 p.m
By: Bjarne Kommnick
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A married couple has jointly paid into the pension system for over 100 years.
But a stroke of fate changed everything – with dramatic consequences.
Frankfurt – Anyone who pays into the pension system for a long time doesn’t have to worry in old age.
What sounds logical is obviously not always the case in reality, after all, new pensioners are getting less and less money.
But even people who paid into social security early on are not safe from financial failures during retirement.
A couple from Baden-Württemberg also complains about financial problems - even though the 86-year-old man and his 84-year-old wife have done everything to prevent exactly that.
The pensioner explained how his wife's illness changed everything for them.
Retired couple has to pay 3,300 euros per month for care – “The account was empty”
The 84-year-old was diagnosed with dementia a few years ago, the pensioner explained
to focus.de
.
At first her family managed to look after the pensioner.
But when the woman's condition worsened, her husband, in consultation with his children, "with a heavy heart" placed his loved one in a nursing home.
He was already aware beforehand that he would incur considerable costs.
The fear was great: “I hoped until the end that it wouldn’t happen like that.
They'll let you have a few hundred euros, I said to myself.
At least enough to make ends meet.”
Despite long years of contributions to the pension fund, many married couples complain about financial problems.
(Symbolic image) © Patrick Pleul/dpa
But the monthly costs of caring for his wife even exceeded their income.
“I probably don’t need to say what spending 3,300 euros means when you have a pension of 3,000 euros,” explains the 86-year-old.
The costs are “just for rooms and meals, no special requests.
And the care allowance (care level 4) has already been deducted,” said the pensioner.
The pensioner said that he actually “took it for granted that he would take the money out of his account for shopping in the supermarket.”
But the bill for the nursing home taught him otherwise: “That was no longer possible, the account was empty.”
A married couple loses their savings within a year - and is significantly worse off than recipients of citizens' benefit
The couple had not expected that such a situation could arise: “We have been hard-working all our lives and at the same time very thrifty.” Even going to a restaurant was rare for the two of them; most of the money went into the house and pensions .
“If one of us got sick, we would have something on the line, we thought,” described the pensioner.
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The savings would have been enough to cover the costs for around a year.
The pensioner thought to himself: “I would be a welfare case.
My wife and I had paid into this system together for a hundred years, and now this.” He describes how, under these circumstances, he is in a much worse financial position than recipients of citizens’ benefit, who are at least allowed to have significantly larger “protective assets”.
What is a “protected asset”?
Protected assets refer to assets or parts of assets that are not taken into account when determining financial entitlements to support benefits such as Hartz IV or social assistance - and are therefore protected.
It must be clarified whether and to what extent the applicant has usable assets that can be used to secure their livelihood.
In principle, usable assets are all assets that can be used to support one's own livelihood or the livelihood of those living in a community of need with the applicant.
These include, for example, cash, securities, real estate or even motor vehicles.
(Source: juraforum.de)
“Someone who receives aid can now keep 40,000 euros,” says the pensioner, annoyed about the citizen’s benefit: “A couple like us, on the other hand, is only allowed 10,000 euros per person.” Requests for help by letter to federal government politicians were left with a “standard letter “ unanswered, the senior claimed.
“No one has been able to give me a reason for the shameful injustice in matters of citizens’ money and protected assets.”
“I don’t even want to know what would have happened next”: Pensioner back home thanks to new medication
This condition gave him a feeling of fear for the future and anger, but also of dignity.
Only recently did the federal government cut pension subsidies.
At least the suffering of the retired couple has been reduced for the time being.
The dementia pensioner can now live with her family again: “Thanks to new, different medication, my wife has been feeling better for a few weeks now.” This ray of hope came just in time for her husband: “I don’t even want to know what would have happened next. “The pensioner and his wife’s savings have almost been used up.
(bk)