Social law is intended to balance social inequalities. Despite formulations in the Basic Law that designate Germany as a welfare state, the meaning of this is not clearly defined. The terms equality and social justice also have different legal-political interpretations. Social law is thus a historically evolved body of law shaped by various principles. Its foundation is the solidarity-based protection against major life risks, with society as a whole forming a community of risk within social insurance. However, protection against the risk of illness is distributed across several Social Code Books. For people with chronic illnesses, this fragmentation of legal responsibilities and regulatory areas poses a problem in accessing benefits. The further development of the legal system must address this problem by integrating entitlements to care.