Applying for maternity benefit

Depending on your insurance status and professional situation, you can apply for maternity benefit either from your statutory health insurance fund or from the Federal Social Security Office (BAS).
Applying for maternity benefit from your statutory health insurance fund:
You can submit the application by post or – in the case of many statutory health insurance companies – hand it in in person at the office.

• To do this, ask your doctor or midwife to issue you with a certificate of the calculated due date (so-called sample 3).
• Fill out the back of the certificate of the calculated date of birth and, if necessary, a separate application form from your health insurance company. Submit the certificate of the calculated date of birth as well as the additional completed application form to your health insurance company together.
• You don't have to do anything else until the due date. Your health insurance company
  • will contact you if you have any questions or missing documents.
  • writes to you whether and to what extent you are entitled to maternity benefit.
  • will transfer the first payment of maternity benefit to you for the period up to the calculated date of birth, as soon as the necessary data has been reported by the employer.
• After the birth, you submit your baby's birth certificate or proof of birth to your health insurance company. In the event of a premature birth or a medically determined disability of your child, you must also submit the medical certificate of the child's premature birth or disability.
• Your health insurance company will then transfer the 2nd part of the maternity benefit to you for the period until the end of the maternity leave period.
• After the 2nd payment, your health insurance company will automatically send you a certificate of receipt of maternity benefit for the parental allowance office.

Apply for maternity benefit in writing to the BAS:

• Go to the website of the Federal Social Security Office and download the application form there.
• Fill out the form completely, sign it and send it by post to the BAS with all the necessary documents.
  • Please note: The BAS will only archive the documents you have submitted in electronic form and will destroy the originals. Therefore, you will not receive the originals back. If necessary, however, you can obtain a certified copy from the BAS.
• The BAS will review your application and send you a confirmation of receipt by post as soon as possible.

You can check the status of your application at any time on the Internet at status.mutterschaftsgeld.de.

GKV-SV, Federal Social Security Office

You can apply for maternity benefit from the statutory health insurance fund if you:

• are themselves members of the statutory health insurance scheme; family insurance is not enough.
• you are an employee at the beginning of the maternity leave period, or your employment relationship has been permissibly terminated by your employer during pregnancy or the protection period, or you receive unemployment benefit I, or you are self-employed and are entitled to sickness benefit as a person with voluntary statutory health insurance.

You can apply for maternity benefit from the BAS if:

• at the beginning of the six-week protection period.
  • have private health insurance, or
  • are insured with a statutory health insurance company and
• You are in an employment relationship in which you do not receive any remuneration due to the maternity leave periods or your employer has terminated the employment relationship during your pregnancy or the protection period after childbirth with the consent of the competent authority.

You will not receive maternity benefit if:

• You receive salary subject to contributions within the statutory maternity leave periods due to full continued work, income from work or holiday compensation. During this time, your entitlement rests.
• You are a civil servant. Then you will continue to receive your salary.
• You are an adoptive mother.
• Your entitlement to unemployment benefit I is suspended because you receive parental allowance for an older child.
• You are receiving unemployment benefit II.
   

To apply to your statutory health insurance company:

• Certificate from the doctor or midwife about the calculated date of birth, the so-called MET certificate or the so-called model 3
• Certificate of Earnings
• After birth: your baby's birth certificate or proof of birth; in the case of a premature birth or a disability of the child, the medical certificate of the premature birth or disability of the child must also be submitted, so-called model 9
• In individual cases, further documents may be required. Please contact your health insurance company for more information.

When submitting an application to the BAS, additionally:

• Application form
• if you have not received a certificate of the calculated date of birth: Birth certificate
• Certificate of employment
   

You do not have to bear any costs.

If possible, you should apply for maternity benefit at the beginning of your protection period. However, you can also apply after the birth of your child. However, there is a statute of limitations for this. This begins at the end of the year in which your protection period began, i.e. on 1 January of the following year. It ends 4 years after this year on 31.12.

The processing by your statutory health insurance company usually takes about 3 to 6 working days, depending on the receipt of the certificate of earnings. In order to process and make a decision quickly, your health insurance company must have the necessary information and, if necessary, documents complete and meaningful.
The health insurance company decides on applications promptly, whereby the statutory processing deadline is observed in order to protect patients' rights. Please note that the stated processing time is an average value for all health insurance companies. It may vary in individual cases. The exact processing time also depends on the complexity of the individual case and can be extended accordingly. The same applies if documents or records are sent to you or your health insurance company by post.

It usually takes 2 to 6 weeks for your application to be processed by the BAS.
 

Forms: yes
Online procedure possible: yes
Written form required: no
Personal appearance required: no

• Contradiction. Detailed information on how to file an objection can be found in the notification of your application.
• social court action

Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS)
Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ)
Service Team BMFSFJ
Federal Ministry of Health (BMG)
 

26.01.2022

The text was automatically translated based on the German content.