The long-term care insurance can cover assistive technology 'enabling the person to remain or become more independent when it comes to personal hygiene, nutrition and preparing meals, mobility inside and outside the home, dressing, assisting with household chores and verbal and written communication'. The assistive technology may be required to meet needs in terms of safety, prevention and pain relief. It can also facilitate the work of care and assistance providers. Assistive technology includes wheelchairs, medical beds and patient lifts, as well as other equipment such as video systems with image-zooming features for the visually impaired, communication support devices, etc.
Assistive technology is provided free of charge. However, the coverage may not exceed EUR 35,000 per device/item of equipment.
Assistive technology is provided in one of two ways:
- it may be rented by the long-term care insurance provider from an external supplier, and then made available to the beneficiary (the long-term care insurance provider will cover the cost of repairs)
- it may be purchased by the long-term care insurance provider on behalf of the beneficiary (in this case, the long-term care provider will not cover the cost of repairs)
The supplier of the assistive technology equipment is selected and paid by the long-term care insurance provider.
Only those assistive technology products included on a list made available by the consultation committee and approved by Grand-Ducal regulation will be covered by the long-term care insurance provider.
The long-term care insurance provider will also cover the costs of installation and setup of the assistive technology.
The cost of the assistive technology, as well as any installation and setup costs, will only be covered by the long-term care insurance provider with the prior approval of the AEC. The long-term care insurance provider will bear no costs whatsoever if the assistive technology was purchased by the person concerned without said prior approval.
The long-term care insurance provider may also cover the cost of assistive technology for persons who do not reach the 3.5-hour threshold for activities of daily living (ADLs), provided they can demonstrate a significant and regular need for assistance in the category of activities mentioned above, owing to an illness or deficiency lasting more than 6 months.
Further information concerning certain specific assistive equipment can be found below:
(only available in French and German)