More fathers stay with the sick child at home

More fathers stay with the sick child at home

02/14/2015

More and more working fathers stay with their child at home, if this is sick. This has resulted in a statistical survey of health insurance DAK health. Especially in the new federal states, the proportion of fathers who take care of their children is particularly high.

More fathers stay with their sick child
Fever, diarrhea, broken leg: More and more working fathers stay at home when their child is ill. According to a statistical survey conducted by DAK Gesundheit, the number of men who can be released from work in the event of their offspring's illness has increased significantly. According to a message from the news agency dpa, the health insurance company in Hamburg reported that its share had almost doubled in the last five years alone. According to this, about 90,000 insured persons of the DAK submitted applications for the so-called child care sickness benefit in 2014. Nearly 20 percent of the applicants were men. In 2009 it was only ten percent.

Strong east-west gradient
„Even though women are still home much more often, modern family policy is slowly having an effect“, said DAK press officer Jörg Bodanowitz. Particularly striking in the numbers is also an east-west gradient. Thus the fathers in the new federal states took care of the sick offspring much more often than the fathers in the west. According to the information, the proportion of fathers caring for their sick children is particularly high in Saxony, at almost 24 percent. In Rhineland-Palatinate, on the other hand, it is only a good 13 percent.

Differences between city and area states
However, there is not only an east-west divide, but also differences between urban and territorial states. Although in Berlin and Hamburg (21 and 20 percent) relatively many fathers look after their sick children, in North Rhine-Westphalia, however, only 15 percent do so. If parents stay with sick children at home and the employer does not pay wages, health insurance jump in. The children's sickness benefit is a wage replacement benefit in the statutory health insurance (SHI).

20 days entitlement to continued pay
Again „Health insurance counselors“ online writes, the health insurance company reimburses the daily loss of wages up to 100 percent of the net income up to 20 days a year, whenever a parent can not work because of the necessary child care in case of illness. Ten days are scheduled for each parent and 20 days for single parents. To be eligible for the service, some criteria must be met. Thus, the child may not be older than eleven years and there may be no other persons in the household who are able to take care of them.

Many children are often ill
The fact that children are particularly ill often has the so-called „family study“ the AOK shown last year. The survey, in which parents commented on the state of health of their offspring, revealed at that time that about every fifth child in Germany has health problems. Children often suffer from abdominal pain, irritability, headache, nervousness, difficulty falling asleep, feeling unwell, back pain, drowsiness and dizziness. The study also showed that the disease susceptibility of children is largely determined by the family climate. (Ad)