A spokeswoman for the Green Party in Germany has said disabled and seriously ill people should be able to claim back public money if they pay for sex.
They would have to prove a medical need and show that they could not pay to visit sex workers otherwise.
Elisabeth Scharfenberg, an MP, told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that she "could imagine" local authorities paying for "sexual assistance".
Prostitution has been legal in Germany since 2002.
The newspaper wrote (in German) that increasing numbers of sex workers offered services in care homes. A sexual adviser for nursing homes told the paper that prostitutes were a "blessing" for some patients.
In the Netherlands it is already possible to claim the cost of sexual services as a medical expense.
The Green Party, a bigger political player in Germany than in other countries, won a place in a state coalition government for the first time in 2011, in Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Its share of the federal vote fell to about 8% in the last election.
Only in Germany
Only in Germany
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