Social security

What are the pro's and con's for chosing private healt insurance instead of using the state scheme?

Don't know if it has any relevance for the answer, but I'm 33, single, healthy, normally go to the doctor once every 4+ year (I think I last went there in 2002).

Henrik

So you are single I assume there arent any children you want to insure with you??? I also assume that you are earning enough to decide whether you stay with a gesetzliche Versicherung or be privat versichert. From what I know, on your own or married with one kid, its probably better to be privat versichert but once you have more than one child, it becomes pretty expensive as you have to pay extra for each child. Am I right? Once you choose a private insurance if you are working, you cant go back to public I THINK but Im not sure. Pros of Private is probably that you get a much better coverage and a much better service. I was privately insured until just recently where I had to take public insurance when I got work on a contract. If you are healthy as you say and dont go to the doctors very often, then the only difference you would probably worry about is price. Sorry, Im not an expert so I cant really help further but I bet there are lots of people who know a lot more here so you should get a more comprehensive answer and maybe corrections to mine because Im not 100% sure of what Im talking about

If you're single without children and relatively young, then "privat" is not only cheaper but gives (increasingly) better service. I think (but cannot be sure) that 33 counts as young enough in this respect.


This is a point to be aware of, but at present it is not absolute, but there is a cut-off age of somewhere between 50 and 55 (this subject has come up before, so if you do a search, you may find the definitive age) you cannot change back. I got into this situation at age 57 and couldn't find any loopholes, even though a local "Betriebskrankenkasse" was keen to take me on.

If you don't have any children, I would tend to "privat" - if you're in good health, be aware that some, but not all, have the equivalent of a "no claims discount" which can refund up to six months contributions (after a few years) if you don't make a claim, so look around.

After that, be sure to keep an eye on the legal situation, so that if your situation deteriorates, you can, if necessary, change back to the "gesetzliche" insurance.

State health insurance is based on your income, so if you're earning a lot, it's often worthwhile insuring yourself privately.
However, private health insurance is based on your risk and not your income, so the older you become, the greater the risk, the higher your premiums.

For an excellent summary of health insurance and medical expenses in Germany, have a look at this.

I think if you are only planning on staying in Germany for a few years and are single then I would definately go private. If you had a family and was considering settling permanently in Germany then maybe the the state scheme might be better but it is twice the price.

As far as I know 33 is still classed as young.

Great info, this sort of put the whole thing into perspective for me.

Oh yeah, I should have written: single, no kids and healthy - had not thought about the importance of that piece of info even though it is obvious to me now.

I'd already heard something about the not changing back to state insurance. It's a bit difficult for me to rate the importance of this, since I don't know how long I'll be staying in Germany. Since I left my naitive Denmark I've been 3 years in France and 1 in Switzerland, so I'll probably not be in Germany for life, but you never know.

Today I've opted for an yearly excess of EUR 1000 on my Swiss healt insurance. If something similar is possible in Germany I'll do it again, since the payback time here is quite short.

Can you recommend any private companies or any websites, where I can find comparisons between the companies - sort of like scout24.de (German sites are ok, but English is preferred).

Thanks,

Henrik