International private health insurance

I am applying for the resident permit on the basis of the spouse of an EU national( self sufficent resource). We know we need private health insurance. Does anybody know if we can use international private health insurance? Or anybody can recommond a cheap one?Because German private health insurance is too expensive.

Try Bupa International.

I had my old policy through A La Carte Healthcare, I believe Allianz was my broker. Cheap, I think I paid $500 for a year. I called it "in case I get hit by a bus" insurance.

Can also try googling for Axa PPP.

Try this one - we use it in the UK http://www.goodhealthworldwide.com/

So far so good !

Suggestions for international health insurance companies have been covered ad nauseum – see for example Private health insurance companies in Germany, Recommended providers for expats. Whether they will insure you as a spouse of an EU national is probably something you'll have to ask them yourself.

Yeah, that's what I use, 466 euro a year for me. Covers about anything other than vision...and a fuckload cheaper than the public insurance that my gf has...plus, she's gotta pay 10 euro here and there that I never do...I'm starting to like my insurance company, weird, I know.

Check out healthcareinternational.com

The comprehensive wiki update on Health Insurance from April 2007 (http://www.toytowngermany.com/wiki/Health_insurance_%282007_update%29) mentioned that no comprehensive comparison of 'international' insurers had, to the author's knowledge, been made as of then.

As an alternative to being insured with Germany's seemingly very expensive private insurers, I would like to look into 'international' alternatives.

Can anyone here make any recommendations for one or more 'international' insurance companies for health/medical coverage in Germany?

Thanks.

Topics merged by admin

since the WIKI info was written by me, let me try to make this a bit clearer for you: the international insurances offer a very wide variety of coverage-blocks to opt out or in and that makes it particularily hard to compare them. On top of that they have very varying waiting periods, limits/caps on certain areas of coverage etc. In my professional opinion and from long experience I can say that if you put a good German private health insurance side by side with the an international insurance mirroring the same amount of coverage, international insurance are not exactly cheaper in comparison. But you can pay much less for an international insurance then for a German health insurance because you can opt out from more areas of coverage then with a German health insurance.

Example: German private health insurance will (nearly) always cover you worldwide including US, Canada and the Caribean and this is not something you can opt out from. If, however, you take an international insurance you can relatively low cost insurance coverage if the area of coverage is limited to Europe only.
Dental coverage is always standard with German health insurances, with international health insurances however this is usually something you have to pay extra premium for in order to get coverage for dental treatment. And so on and so forth...

Another issue becoming more and more important is that German authorities have started to deny acceptance of international insurances for Visa and residence permit applications. While this is not exactly backed by the law, there is not much one can do if that happens. The very least the international health insurance of your choice needs to provide is a solution for the "Pflegepflichtversicherung", i.e. the compulsory long-term nursing insurance. If the international health insurance does not offer such an added insurance solution, chances are in my experiences quite high that the international health insurance will be rejected if you need to get approval from German authorities like the immigration offices.

Therefore: I would not rule out German health insurance from the beginning until you have discussed your options with a professional like an independent broker. If you can for instance accept a deductible of 600-750 EUR/year, premium prices can be reasonable in comparison with most international health insurances. If you want to go for an international health insurance, make sure that the Visa and residence permit authorities will accept it - unfortunately this differs basically from office to office, town to town. And if you are totall uncertain in the beginning: there is a solution available from a German insurance for the first 6-12 month with a very limited coverage but fully accepted by German authorities so far for as little as 76.-EUR/month. this should never be a long-term solution, but can help you with your first steps while arriving in Germany and setting up your new life here.

Cheerio

part of the reason German health insurers are expensive is that you are building up an ageing reserve, and that you are insured for life.
As a foreigner, you might get part of those reserves refunded when you leave the country

Thanks! While looking into 'residence permit' requirements, I checked with German immigration authorities about 'international health/medical insurance' alternatives and was told that in principle they are acceptable but would have to conform to the same requirements as German insurance.

Do you happen to know what the specific guidelines that have to be met are (other than the compulsory L/T nursing care requirement you've already mentioned)?

Also, where can I find information about the 76 EU/month insurance?

mkraft: the most common problem raised by the German authorities with international health insurances are these:
a) the should not be able to kick you out in case you develop a chronical illness
there should be no age-limit to the insurance duration
c) insurances should build up a capital stock from the beginning in order to avoid steep (and thus unaffordable) premium increase in old age.

Unfortunately there is no clear line among the German local authorities about how the deal with this issue and what they will allow or not and their is also not much legal ground to dispute a negative decision by one authoritiy even if you can show that other local authorities accepted the same solution under the same law/regulation/rules. Therefore it is always a bit of a gamble to find out if they accept a certain international health insurance or not. Therefore you should allow for enough time in your application duration to come up with a second solution in case your first one is refuted. Mike Woodiwiss from Spectrum International and I have had a number of examples where local authorities accepted ALC for instance without problems, but we both experience recently that they all become more complicated to work with and that more and more such excellent insurances are refused on rather lame reasons but to no avail if you need your residence permit to go through asap. Personally I believe it is stupid to force people who only want to stay for a limited period of years in Germany and whose expertise we dearly need into German private health insurances, but this appears to be the latest trend and will most likely increase/become worse starting with the new regulations/laws effective from Jan. 1st 2009 on.

As to the 76.- EUr/month insurance plan - well you would have to approach a good independent broker like me (by sending an email inquiry through the link provided below) in order to get this information...

Cheerio

How does this 'capital stock' (the same concept, I assume, as the 'ageing reserve' mentioned by Villager) work in practice?

Is the basic idea that you pay more than you normally would for insurance at a younger age in order to pay less than you normally would in old age -- or something entirely different?

Why is that preferable to getting a tailored international policy (or perhaps a tailored German private insurance policy, if it allows for similar customizing) and buying an inexpensive comprehensive travel medical insurance policy when traveling outside Germany?


But if that deductible means that I won't be able to even see a doctor through the policy's coverage until I've paid out 600-750 EUR/year, to me that's essentially an additional payout on top of the actual premiums -- because the likelihood of needing to see a doctor during the year is much greater than the likelihood of needing the major medical coverage of the policy.

It varies from company to company, but with some companies you get a sort of "no-claims bonus" for normal visits to the doctor - everything not requiring hospitalisation. The refund is usually something like three to six months refund, which will cover at least a part, if not all of those costs.

Correct, this is how it is supposed to work. There is the basic legal demand for the insurance to compute your personal risk in such a way for the premium that based on your age and gender and health condition the health insurance should remain stable for the forseeable future (except some increase through inflation etc). On top of that the law requires health insurances in Germany to charge an additional 10% on top of the premium just for an additional ageing reserve since it has become obvious that the scientific development in medicine and health care can cause unpredictable financial challenges in the future to the insurances and the insured.


I could not say that there is an advantage one way or the other from a point of view of coverage. You are right that you can get youself a fullyear travel health insurance for reasonable costs and could be better of by selecting a Europe-only area of coverage with an international insurance. However, German insurances just don't allow for that, they always include world-wide coverage including US and Canada. This is why I usually try to show that while some international health insurance have cheaper premiums at first glance, a fair comparison of the coverage will often show that if that same insurance would have to extend the coverage to include US and Canada, the price difference more or less evaporates. But that does not mean that it could not be better for some to select the international insurance's more limited coverage if they do not need the worldwide coverage if they have a chance to select an international insurance after all...


RMA explains that quite nicely: on one hand the insurances often reward you with a no-claims bonus and some (not all) do not count the costs for normal yearly or twice-a-year preventive check-ups with the doctor and dentist against the deductible or as harming your no-claims-bonus. And you are right as well: in order to compare an insurance with no deductible and one with 600 EUR deductible based on their premium costs you would have to add 50.- EUR/month in a fiar comparison to the average premium costs to the insurance with the deductible. But many newcomers to Germany just need a solid insurance solution to show the Ausländeramt or other immigration authorities and in order to save costs in the beginning (particularily if you believe to be yourself quite healthy) it can make sense to use such an insurance.

Cheerio