private health insurance in Germany

abcdefghil New member

8POSTS

8 years ago

Hi, suggestion for private health聽 insurance in Germany, Berlin?
a good friend needs some connections
Thanks

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beppi Germany/Singapore Expert

15647POSTS

8 years ago

Please note that typical expatriate health insurances (like the ones linked to by Bhavna above) do not normally fulfill German requirements and are thus not accepted.
You can compare rates of the various health insurance options on comparison portals like Do also look at the public insurance scheme, as the private scheme does not cover kids or other dependents and is expected to get more and more expensive with age.

TominStuttgart Germany Expert

2807POSTS

8 years ago

beppi wrote:
Please note that typical expatriate health insurances (like the ones linked to by Bhavna above) do not normally fulfill German requirements and are thus not accepted.
You can compare rates of the various health insurance options on comparison portals like Do also look at the public insurance scheme, as the private scheme does not cover kids or other dependents and is expected to get more and more expensive with age.

One also has to look at the requirements. Some people have to take public health insurance. Some have to take private, and less than 10% are in a catagory that they are allowed to take one or the other and should compare to see which is the most advantageous, which depends on a lot of factors.

From the German medical association ():

鈥淗ealthcare in Germany is funded by a statutory contribution system that ensures free healthcare for all via health insurance funds. Insurance payments are based on a percentage of income, shared between employee and employer. Health insurance in Germany is divided between statutory and private schemes. The statutory health insurance, the so-called Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung (GKV), occupies a central position in the healthcare system in the Federal Republic of Germany. About 90 % of the population are covered by statutory health insurance, which is compulsory for all with a gross income of less than 4,462.50 EUR per month. Private healthcare schemes can either provide a complete health service for those who opt out of the GKV, or top-up cover for those who remain within it.鈥�

Some additional links in English explaining聽 the German health-care system:

1 member reacted to this post

GuestPoster221 Guest

0POSTS

8 years ago

If you want practical consultation and a private health insurance. Connect with John Gunn1 He's a real support in this business. He is also a member of this forum. I have seen him posting here.

bellybell Member

1POSTS

8 years ago

I am going to move to Germany with self sufficient and I already bought a worldwide hospitalisation insurance (i don't have GKV) but doubt if this can fulfil聽 the German requirements and will be accepted by the Germany BAMF office. How can I determine this?

beppi Germany/Singapore Expert

15647POSTS

8 years ago

Ask the insurer if they are are accredited as German health plan provider. If not, you will have to join a German insurer.
Pure hospitalization plans do NOT fulfill the requirement - and neither does any plan with a defined maximum amount of coverage. That鈥榮 why almost no international insurer can provide what you need to reside in Germany.
Also, look at the cost: If they charge a lot less than what you鈥榙 pay to the German GKV (for a self-sufficient non-employee that is 鈧�350-750/month depending on income), they sure cannot give the same coverage.
(If you are young and without pre-existing illnesses, German private health insurance or PKV can be cheaper.)

GuestPoster221 Guest

0POSTS

8 years ago

Hi,
Yeah, private health insurance can be cheaper -- WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG AND HEALTHY. When you get old and sicknesses start coming then premiums will start to skyrocket. Acceptable private health insurance requests like
- no more co-payments than 鈧� 300 p.a.
- no serious exclusion in coverage -- like a cap of 5 million USD
- no limitation for hospital costs
- etc.

1 member reacted to this post

john g. Active member

62POSTS

8 years ago

Hello ahoi!
Private German insurances don't up their prices based on an individual client's age or illnesses- that is illegal. Price rises in the German system are based on general medical inflation, political decisions聽 and on the general success or otherwise of a particular tariff of a private German insurance company eg is it full of loss-making old people馃

What you are referring to is the dog-eat-dog approach- especially by American insurers....

beppi Germany/Singapore Expert

15647POSTS

8 years ago

#10

John: This is patently untrue!
I myself was in the private scheme before (now thankfully back in public) and they asked me for a surcharge due to a non-straight disc in my backbone (which I never had problems with before) and for my wife wisdom tooth treatment was excluded (because hers were lodged under the gums) - and that was despite both of us being young and healthy. Imagine what they'd do if it weren't so.
And we even had to pay ourselves (approx EUR100 per person) for the medical examination through which the insurance found out the above!

john g. Active member

62POSTS

8 years ago

#11

Yes but at the time of applying when they were assessing the risk!!! NOT years later - unless you had provided incorrect health information at the time of applying- so that's a different issue!

beppi Germany/Singapore Expert

15647POSTS

8 years ago

#12

Yes, at the time of entry.
With an international career, you may enter and exit several times - and the premiums go up all the time.
That's why I am back in the public scheme, which is more suitable for anyone except the very rich who never move.

john g. Active member

62POSTS

8 years ago

#13

A way to avoid that in the private system is to sign up for an Anwartschaft (both for price and future health problems in the private system ).
Public insurance prices also go up yearly - based on the Beitragsbemessungsgrenze.

I麓m actually a critic of the system and would prefer a more transparent system - a mixture of public and private and one also not dependent on visa restrictions etc.

beppi Germany/Singapore Expert

15647POSTS

8 years ago

#14

john g. wrote:
A way to avoid that in the private system is to sign up for an Anwartschaft (both for price and future health problems in the private system ).

That is only true in theory - in our case the "Anwartschaft" would have costed too much to be worth it (we went abroad with unknown schedule and ended up returning after 8 years abroad the first time and again after four years abroad the second time, then with kid). Also, if we had an "Anwartschaft", we might not have been allowed to switch to the public scheme, where we are better off now!
I agree that a simpler, more transparent system is needed. I personally would prefer more freedom of choice and a free market approach, but even the leftist's "Buergerversicherung" (=one public insurer for all) is better than the current chaos!