Private health insurance and maternity coverage

Hello everyone here

i have applied for the Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowships, and will go to Germany in the second half of this year. According to the instruction of Humboldt Foundation, i have to be insured in private insurance company. i have some questions concerning the private insurance.

When i go to germany, my wife will go with me. we want to have a baby in germany. Do some private insurance companies provide maternity insurance? how much? what percent of the maternity expense will be reimbursed by the company? how long should we start insurance before pregnancy or delivery?

Thank you very much for your help!
Best wishes!
lituo

If it is a normal German insurance it will cover everything.

lituo: as KRIEG already mentioned above, any private German health insurance will always include full pregnancy and maternity coverage from day one - there is no specific waiting period even. It only gets a little bit more complicated if your wife arrives being already pregnant, because then only a very small number of insurances will accept an application within the first couple of weeks of pregnancy. The costs for each of your health insurances, your's and your wife's depend on age and gender and health status. Have an independent broker check out your options in order to find a suitable insurance deal for you. Btw: once the baby has arrived, it will need its own individual health insurance. The costs of which will be around 80-120 EUR/month.

Cheerio

Just in case it wasn't clear, and apologies if it was, I would add that private insurance requires you and your wife to be insured individually - she will not be covered under your insurance.

Thanks for the above reply!
STRASHOLLOW said there is no specific waiting period even. Does he mean that if the pregnancy happen after purchasing the insurance, the maternity expense will be covered by insurance company?
however, from another channel, i have got some information that there is 8 months waiting period for maternity insurance.
i am confused about which is right?
thanks!

I hope OP is aware that this will be rather EXPENSIVE

nklituo: yes, this exactly what it means: once you signed on with a normal private German health insurance, pregnancy is covered immideately. The 8 month waiting period for maternity basically means the same: since you have to go through a couple of month of pregnancy, maternity comes afterwards. If you now are in sorrow as to what happens in case there is a preterm delivery, don't worry: when you apply for health insurance - or rather when your wife applies, because, as Guy points out for clarfication, you and your wife both need to have individual health insurance - one of the questions is, if she is pregnant. Also there will be a medical check-up for the application where again it will be checked if your wife is pregnant. Now if she is not at that point of time and if only weeks later she becomes pregnant and would have a preterm delivery after 7-8 month, she and the baby would still be covered.
And, as I mentioned above: there are even 1 or 2 insurance which will accept an application during the first 8 weeks of a pregnancy and still cover pregnancy/maternity in full, albeit these are not exactly the least expensive insurance, it is still a solution just in case...

Cheerio

Thanks very much for Starshollow's reply!

if i have bought a private maternity insurance, how much is the it? what percent of expense including pregnancy examination, delivery, and so on will be reimbursed by the insurance company?

You don't need private maternity insurance. Your wife will have to have normal health insurance, either private, or volutarily public (although private may well work out cheaper, depending on how much you will be earning). Provided she is not pregnant when you sign up, your medical bills during pregnancy will be fully covered by your insurance, with the exception of any excess on your policy which applies to all medical bills (for example, my son's policy requires us to pay the first 220€ each year, after than everything is covered)

kathie: at the beginning of the thread he mentiones that he has already been told that he must apply for private health insurance, i.e. he is not eligible for public health insurance. This is why my replies only focus on private health insurance so far... But you are right to point out again that pregnancy/maternity is always an integral part of a German standard health insurance in contrast to international health insurance where this is an option only, normaly.

Cheerio

His employer is saying he has to be privately insured. His wife may however well have the option to voluntarily sign up for public insurance. However, as I know from my own situation, the chances are that private insurance will be as cheap if not cheaper (as your contributions to the public health insurance are dependent on the husbands income if he is privately insured), and the benefits will be greater.

I'm a bit uncertain about this 'has to be privately insured' bit - if you're an employee, your company has no right to dictate what health insurance you take, but the employment status is unclear here.

it does not sound like "employment" to me, but I could be wrong. If, however, the Humboldt foundation is correct with the information that he can only apply for private health insurance, then since they both appear to come directly from somewhere in Asia I see no chance at all for her get voluntary public health insurance because she would have to fulfill first the requirement of having been insured with a EU memberstate public health insurance for either the last 12 month before applying for German public health insurance or at least 24 month out of the last 5 years - both of which do not sound likely...

Cheerio

thank everyone for the above reply and discussions!

i and my wife have to buy private insurance according to the instruction of Humboldt Foundation.

but i did not find the direct answer to the price and reimbursing percent of private maternity insurance?

who can give my a reply? thanks

nklituo: there are no additional costs for maternity in a private health insurance, it is an integral part of such an insurance if it is a "normal" private German health insurance.

Cheerio

You are not providing the needed information.

The insurance is a GERMAN insurance or not?

If it is a German insurance, you just go to the doctor and you do not have to pay. (Ok, you pay 10 euros every 3 months and 5 to 10 euros for the medicines).

The Humboldt Foundation pays stipendiums not a salary for its Postdoctoral Fellowships. Private insurance is required (as is the case for some PhD students also depending on which institute they are attached to).

krieg: the numbers you mention above refer again to public health insurance... I thought it was made clear in the meantime that this is not an option for poor nklituo (tks to Kommentarlos for the explanation!). with private health insurance he or his wife could have either a deductible/excess option or no such costs at all and everything would be reimbursed in full...

Cheerio

none, I presume, you are on a scholarship


on a scholarship I assume he will earn 0


not sure he will actually have an employer as such

I suspect the policy will cost a few hundred per month. You should probably be a bit careful though as i assume you may only be here for a limited period (1 year Humboldt) so the insurance companies may not be that excited about insuring you. Also be wary of the insurance offered via Humboldt if you want full cover