Sympathetic health insurance company sought

My friend is having a nightmare with her insurance company and I am hoping that somebody out there will have some helpful ideas about how she can resolve this.

She is a University student and have been in Munich for 2 years trying to complete her Masters. She's had a rather tumultous time here. She is required to have health insurance in order for her student visa to be valid but she has just been told by her private health insurance that they will not extend their covergae when it expires in October.

The reason that they are not extending it is due to the medical bills they've had to foot for her in the last 2 years. In the first year here, she had a chest infection which also severely infected one of her heart valves. This resulted in her having to have open heart surgery to have that valve replaced - hence the high medical bills.

She has tried pleading with them to extend her insurance for ar least 6 months ( at a higher premium) so that she can finish her Masters for her visa will not be valid without any insurance. They have rejected that and even said that no amount of premium can make up for the bills they have already paid for her.

This is what she has done thus far:-

1) Public insurance:- She were told when she opted for private insurance, she would be able to return to Public if she required. Now, they are saying that she is not eligible because she is too old. It was only vaild until one is 30 years (She's 31). By the way, the age limit was not mentioned in the letter whe she opted out.

However, they have said that she would be able to get it if she is working. But this means she will have to try to get a work visa as her student visa only allows her to work limited hours...

2) Univerity Foreign Student Counsel - for hep. They simply said " Well no insurance, no visa - so you will have to go home. " When my friend said that she only had 3 units to complete her Masters and did not want to go home empty handed after 2 years of hard work. The lady responded that not everybody can attain all their goals and besides she ( my friend) has a previous professional that she could return to... some helpful advice!

3) Other private insurance - She has tried quite a few but her pre-existing health complications makes quite difficult.

She will be seeing the Director of her course to see how he can help her complete her course in a shorter time and I am writing to the forum to see if any has had similar experiences and/or maybe offer up names of more sympathetic insurance companies.

Any ideas to help her out..???

Her best bet is to probably meet with an insurance broker to determine her real options. TT has 3 brokers listed under the advertiser section.

Other than that, I dont know really but just some guesses...

1. Given her health problems her best bet is probably to go for public health coverage, it might take her longer to work and finish her masters but at least she's suitably covered under health care.

2. Also does the visa state it has to be *german* health insurance? If not she should see whats available in her home country that would cover here here in Germany.

3. For a quick fix, she could look into buying a health insurance travel policy which you can get, at least in the US rather easily, i.e. no check ups. The policies really just cover emergency health care on trips. The catch however is that she would have to buy a roundtrip ticket, the outbound has to be taken inorder to activate the insurance. The policies, as I understand it cover you for the duration of the 'trip'.

Good luck though!

Go to the Verbraucherzentrale (Citizen's Advice).
Email or phone for an appointment, the advice will cost 5€ in total and they know their stuff.
Opening times for Munich
Take all the documentation with you and a German speaker to assist.
It may well be that the insurer cannot cancel before the end of the course instead of the end of the semester - but the Verbraucherzentrale will be able to tell you more and will help to write the letters as well.
Good luck!

If you are still having difficulties please contact me.

I have a number of options I may be able to suggest. I am surprised your existing insurer refuses to continue your insurance due to continuing health problems. If these problems occurred after you originally took out the insurance, then, as I understand it, the German Law does not allow the insurance to be withdrawn, either on these grounds, or age or occupation. If however you have ignored medical advice in respect of the condition, which resulted in an exacerbation of the problem, then they could exclude.

I would like to know who your insurer is, if you would like to e-mail me, and I will check this out with my contact at the Bundesministerium (Health Ministry).

If you go to another private insurer they will almost certainly exclude existing conditions for a period of 2 years. If you do not have any treatment, or more to the point, do not experience symptoms of the same conditions or resulting conditon during the 2 year moratorium period, then some insurers will accept this and cover as a new condition thereafter.

The only exeption to this is to be a member of a Group scheme which has a specific clause of MHD - medical History Disregarded. these are few and far between however and invariably are lrage group schemes with major employers.

If you become 'employed' under the 'Beitragsgrenze' of, currently, Euro3937.50 gross salary, then you would be eligible for Statutory Insurance (Gesetzlicheversicherung) which would cover you.

Travel insurance is not an answer as this invariably only covers emergencies for non-existing conditions.

Can she not get cover from BUPA in UK? Only thing is, they dont cover any "pre-existing" conditions. In fact, it seems as if they cover hardly anything. But I think the cover is easy to get, and its cheap, at least compared to german private schemes.

Yes, BUPA is cheap - so long as you don't get sick!

I have just been through the whole exercise of sorting out health insurance and I looked at AXA-PPP & BUPA.
Neither will cover existing conditions - but that seems to be a general rule with all schemes, but in the case of these two, they clearly define "chronic" conditions (which includes heart problems and anything like Diabetes which can't be cured - only managed on an ongoing basis) and will refuse treatment or ask you to leave the scheme if you develop them!

Not good for the long term.

What would be the point then???

So that she can satisfy the university authorities regarding having health insurance and so continue with her course.

maybe there is a difference between withdrawing and not renewing