Private health insurance in Germany

Eligibility depends on your status:

• Employees: gross annual salary of at least €77,400 (2026 threshold)
• Self-employed and freelancers: no income threshold, eligible at any income (we check the long-term math still makes sense)
• Civil servants (Beamte): qualify automatically through Beihilfe
• Retirees: usually need ≥€60,000 in pension or capital income

We'll confirm your eligibility in 5 minutes.

Yes, self-employed and freelancers are some of the best-fit candidates for private health insurance. There's no income threshold to overcome, and private cover is often noticeably cheaper than the voluntary public option for healthy applicants under 45. The catch: you pay the full premium yourself (no employer split), so we run the long-term math before recommending.

Public is income-based, private is risk-based:

• Public: ~14.6% + 2.9% Zusatzbeitrag + 3.6% Pflegeversicherung, roughly 8–9% of gross salary on the employee side
• Private: a healthy 30-year-old often pays less than they would on public, with broader benefits

The crossover usually flips around age 50 if you've built up insufficient ageing reserves, which is why entry age matters so much.

Yes, partially. The portion of your premium that covers basic medical care is tax-deductible as a special expense under German income tax law. Your insurer issues an annual tax certificate confirming the deductible amount. Employees see this in their payroll tax; self-employed people claim it in their annual return.

You typically pay your doctor directly and submit the bill (or upload via app) for reimbursement. Most private insurers reimburse within 1–3 weeks. Hospitals usually bill the insurer directly so you don't pay upfront. Some modern providers handle everything digitally end-to-end.

Yes, leaving Germany is a special right of cancellation. You'll need to provide proof of deregistration (Abmeldebestätigung). Notice periods are usually short (immediate to 2 months). We help with the paperwork.

If you're eligible (above the income threshold for 12 months as an employee, or self-employed at any income), you give your Krankenkasse notice (typically 2 months) and start with private health insurance from the next quarter or month. Switching on January 1 has special rules, talk to us before pulling the trigger to avoid timing pitfalls.

Yes, there are clear routes back to public insurance:

• Become an employee again with income below €77,400
• Become unemployed and receive ALG I
• Other qualifying life changes (e.g. parental leave or reduced income)

These routes work most smoothly before age 55, so it pays to map your long-term plan with us up front. We walk you through your options before you switch, so it stays your decision with full information, not a one-way door.

Yes. You have a legal right to transfer the reserves you've built up to a new private insurer when you switch. This means you don't lose the contributions that fund your premium in retirement, a key safeguard if you want to move providers later. The reserves only travel between private insurers, not back into the public system.

Yes. Each family member gets their own private policy, which means each one gets the full private benefits, dental, faster appointments, private hospital rooms. Premiums are based on each person's age and health, so a non-working spouse and young children add to the total. Whether private or public works out better for a single-income family depends on the numbers, so we run your exact case before you decide.

Private health insurance premiums don't increase because of your age, your entry age is locked in. They do increase with general healthcare inflation, historically between 0% and 2% per year on carefully selected tariffs.

Insurers must adjust premiums when claim costs in the risk pool exceed reserves; some insurers manage this much better than others, which is a key part of our recommendation.

If you've been in private health insurance for less than 5 years and become eligible for unemployment benefits (ALG I), you typically must return to public insurance. After 5+ years in private cover (and over age 55), you stay private and the Agentur für Arbeit covers part of your premium. The rules are nuanced, check before assuming.

Usually a written health questionnaire is enough. A full medical or dental exam is sometimes requested for higher-tier tariffs or if you have flagged conditions. Most insurers reimburse exam costs (typically up to ~€195) if the policy goes through.

Many German employers offer Betriebliche Krankenversicherung (bKV) as a benefit, supplementary private coverage on top of your existing public or private plan. If your employer participates, premiums are typically subsidized and tax-advantaged. Ask HR or talk to us about combining bKV with a private base policy.

No. The Blue Card is a work and residence permit, and it has no effect on your insurance choice. As an employee you can only leave public health insurance once you earn more than €77,400 per year (2026), whatever your visa says. Self-employed professionals can choose private at any income.

They are two separate salary lines:

• Blue Card minimum (2026): €50,700 per year, or €45,934.20 in a shortage occupation, IT specialists and recent graduates included, this is what you need to *get the visa*
• Private opt-out threshold (2026): €77,400 per year, this is what an employee needs to *choose private health insurance*

It is common to meet the first and not the second.

Not as an employee. When your next raise takes you across €77,400, that is the moment to prepare the switch. Self-employed professionals are not bound by the threshold and can choose private at any income. We confirm your eligibility in 5 minutes.

Often at entry. At a salary near €80,000 you pay the maximum public contribution, around €650 per month as the employee share including long-term care, while a healthy applicant in their early 30s typically pays €380 to €550 in total before the employer contribution is deducted. Whether it stays cheaper long term depends on your family plans and tariff.

For the appointment and your first weeks you usually show travel or incoming insurance, because statutory or private cover starts with your employment. Once you have a start date, the long-term public versus private decision applies.

We have dedicated guides for common situations: how much private health insurance costs, what private health insurance covers, and pages for families, students, freelancers and the self-employed, employees, the salary threshold to qualify, and EU Blue Card holders.