[NAGDU] Ownership in Germany - for Rebecca and everyone who's interested

[Lisa]

Hi Tracy and Heather,


Tracy, at least health insurance companies sometimes try to convince you 
a cane is all you need and they sometimes offer to pay for another O&M 
training instead of a dog. But their aim is obviously to save money.


Heather, I've never heard of such an example but I think it's possible. 
The wealthy person would just have to find a school and pay them like 
the insurance company would do. While I was fighting with my insurance 
company to pay for the dog, I often thought: If there only was a way to 
earn such an amount of money myself, I'd so be out of this whole 
nerve-wrecking process. I think a lot of people wish for that at some point.


Lisa


Lisa




Am 24.05.2017 um 16:54 schrieb Heather Bird via NAGDU:
>     Another question. What happens if an independently wealthy blind 
> person says "To heck with you, mister  insurance provider. I can pay 
> all my dog's bills myself, thank you very much, so you stay the heck 
> away from me and my dog, and I won't ask you for anything and you 
> don't have any claim on my dog end of story?" Can one do that if they 
> wish?
>
>
> On 5/23/2017 6:39 AM, Lisa via NAGDU wrote:
>> Hi Rebecca,
>>
>>
>> you asked if I could explain how ownership is handled in Germany. 
>> I'll try. ;-)
>>
>>
>> Over here, a guide dog is listed as an aid to midigate a disability 
>> like a wheelchair or a cane. This means health insurance pays for the 
>> dog. You have to get a prescription from your eye specialist, find 
>> yourself a school that suits you and then apply for cost acquision 
>> with your health insurance company. In most cases, this is a long and 
>> annoying process because many people get denied at first. Not because 
>> of concerns regarding your ability to take care of a dog but because 
>> of the high costs a guide dog brings. But anyway, after you succeeded 
>> in applying and also in training with your new guide, your health 
>> insurance company becomes the owner of the dog. They remain the owner 
>> until you retire your dog. Then you can either keep it and become the 
>> owner yourself or find him/her a home.
>>
>> There are only two schools in Germany that handle ownership 
>> differently. They remain owner of the dog and the health insurance 
>> still pays for the dog.
>>
>> The big difference to the US is, in my understanding, that we don't 
>> have the opportunity to get ownership for our working dogs at all.
>>
>>
>> I should also add that even though your health insurance company is 
>> the owner of the dog in most cases they don't care about it much. I 
>> have to send in documents that say Taylor gets vaccinated once a 
>> year, a worm preventative twice a year and I have a liability 
>> insurance for him. Apart from that, they aren't interested in what 
>> I'm doing with my dog.
>>
>>
>> Lisa
>>
>>
>>
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>
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