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Federal Social Court in Kassel: Sperm conservation is not an additional requirement like the purchase of school books
Photo: DPA
Job centers do not have to pay for the conservation of semen in the event of impending infertility.
That emerges from a judgment of the Federal Social Court.
The plaintiff had no right to the assumption of the costs incurred for the cryopreservation of his sperm cells, the Kassel judges decided and overturned a different judgment from North Rhine-Westphalia.
According to the Federal Social Court, the costs do not represent an additional need for hardship, even if they are not taken into account in the Hartz IV standard rate.
(Az: B 14 AS 23/20 R)
A 22-year-old now sued the Essen job center.
The man had received chemotherapy in 2014 because of an immunodeficiency and had previously frozen sperm on medical advice.
After the treatment, he was sterile.
Annual costs of 297.50 euros
Both the health insurance company and the job center refused to cover the annual costs of 297.50 euros.
The costs are not part of the subsistence level, which includes medical treatment, said the representative of the job center: "It is not treatment because the patient's condition does not change." His natural fertility could not be restored.
The plaintiff's lawyer argued that it was an additional requirement such as the purchase of school books.
Family planning is under the protection of the Basic Law.
However, the federal social court decided that such a far-reaching obligation of the legislature to provide support could not be derived from the state's duty to protect marriage and the family.
It also pointed out that those with statutory health insurance will in future be entitled to cryopreservation in such cases.
The law was introduced in 2019 and is still being implemented.
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lmd / dpa
