REHACARE Report 2026

Sabrina Lorenz: People who live with a need for assistive devices, with a chronic illness or disability, know best of all what they need. And that's why I think this report also shows a reclaiming of this self-determination, because so many voices come together here.

Hannes Niemann: Assistive devices have a positive effect. And if you're entitled to an assistive device and you actually get it, then it makes this self-determined life possible. And I think that's something you can build on. That's a good start. But the road there is still an arduous one. And what you just said as well: I think if you say that with an assistive device you enable someone to take part in working life… that also creates effects, positive effects for society. Effects that actually play no role at all in all these cost considerations, or that haven't been taken into account so far.

Kirsten Abel: A really important point in the report is: these parts in between, meaning administration, statutory health insurance processes – please stabilize them! That's where AI matters. That's where digitalization matters. That's where we want to get to information faster. That's where we need to know: why is my file still sitting in the cabinet and not with the doctor long ago?

Barbara Kleinow: I have 150 different contacts and nobody knows anything, and it's also never really properly documented what has come in. One single place where it all goes. One caseworker who actually takes care of this one case.

André Dietz: It's just like a constant battle – and that really shouldn't be the case. We fight it anyway, also to raise awareness for other people who maybe don't have this fighting spirit. And we never give up at that point. But that it has to be this way – because, as you've said too, this caregiving is a 24-hour job that we do on top of everything. And then this as well? What's the point?

Moritz Brückner: This very typical thing about networking. Trade fairs are extremely important for that. But you don't always have to reinvent the wheel. There are so many people who have already managed it, who for example also know how I need to phrase things to maybe get it. Where you have to apply. There are so many people who can offer advice, who can tell you: Look, you're entitled to this, and you could also apply for that, and you could also get that to make things easier.

André Dietz: Inclusion is a human right, after all. We all know that. Many don't, as I've just noticed in current politics. And to really achieve inclusion, this is also a big part of it.

Sabrina Lorenz: My problem is not my disability. Of course there are aspects of my chronic illness that I find difficult. But I am not the problem – the barriers out there are. And if I need assistive devices to get through my day, then I have to be entitled to them.

Barbara Kleinow: If I don't have the assistive devices I need, then I simply can't write as fast, because maybe my hand doesn't work. That can't be right. That means I become the cost factor, but I'm being made into one.

Sabrina Lorenz: We have to work together. There's this saying that goes: It takes a whole village to raise a child. And maybe it takes a whole village to somehow make needs-based provision of assistive devices possible.

The fact that three quarters say that, basically, you only get your assistive devices if you really fight for them does make me a little concerned, because fundamentally, the point is that everyone should be able to assert the same entitlement to assistive devices on an equal basis. And when you also hear that nine out of ten people say that they, too, notice that optimal provision of assistive devices is still not guaranteed, then I believe we really still have room for improvement.

The appropriate assistive devices need to reach people more quickly, especially those who really need them. And I believe it is important that we move away from this kind of culture of mistrust. I see, for example, that health insurance funds spend weeks reviewing the necessity of assistive devices, even when they are, for example, still prescribed by social pediatric centers or MCDBs.

And I believe it would really be an important sign of reducing bureaucracy in this area if we ensured that people could obtain the assistive devices they really need more quickly.

I would also consider it important for people with complex disabilities and their family caregivers to have access to more rehabilitation services. And thirdly, I would very much like to ensure that, particularly now in the legislative process, we keep our hands off cuts in the area of respite care and relief care.

Yes, that good, high-quality rehabilitation, wherever possible, results in subsequent costs early on that are substantially lower than if this is not done. In other words: Those who invest in rehabilitation at the outset ultimately save costs. And it would also be important to me to make clear that this is not about charity, but about human rights, and that inclusion and rehabilitation belong together.

You often see the two being played off against each other, with people saying, now we have inclusion, so now we no longer need rehabilitation. That is nonsense. Rather, rehabilitation, high-quality rehabilitation, is often the prerequisite for participation and inclusion to succeed.