Private health insurance company recommendations

[california99 0]

I am looking for a private health insurance. Anyone have any recommendations?

[interplanetjanet 177]

I can't really give you too much information on particular insurance companies, but I can say a couple things on what to look for. Most private insurance companies cover all the important stuff, however there are a couple areas that are hazy. 1) Not all insurance companies cover pregnancy, so if you have any intention of having regular sex, whether or not you plan to get pregnant, I highly recommend making sure you've got this coverage. 2) Dental insurance is not always covered 100%, particularly in the area of orthodontics and dentures (and, from my own experience, they consider any ceramic inlays, onlays or crowns to be in the "denture" category).

 

I've unfortunately had more than my share of doctor visits in the last couple years here, and as far as I can tell most other really important things are covered as a standard practice of the insurance business in this country.

 

Perhaps someone else can give you information on private insurance companies that cover homeopathy, massage, etc...

[california99 0]

Thanks "Interplanetjanet" -- thanks for the heads-up !!!

[yoyo 2]

www.expacare.com

 

I use it, no problems...relatively inexpensive too.

[interplanetjanet 177]

You should probably also take a look at German health insurance providers.

[anabi 5]

yoyo, I looked at the site that you pointed out and it does seem like a very good deal. You say you've had a good expereince with them. Being from the US I haven't heard of them... are they a "large" firm or have good backing? I assume UK law ensures that "fly by night" operations aren't providing critical medical coverage for people! :o

[jpp888 3]

I assume you are from the US with the screen name.

 

The biggest problem is that if your main home is in germany (your first address is not abroad anymore) and you are a non-Eu citizen, no private german insurance company will cover you unless you have been paying into the Gesetzliche Krankenkasse for at least 1 year.

 

The exceptions to this is if you are married to a german or other EU citizen (meaning you have a permanent visa), or if you are studying. There may be some other exceptions, but you have to ask every insurance company specifically.

 

The other thing to do is to find insurance with a company outside of Germany. The government requires that you have insurance, but from where and from who is not important. It is just a lot of trouble to collect from these foreign companies though...

 

Good luck.

[interplanetjanet 177]

 

The biggest problem is that if your main home is in germany (your first address is not abroad anymore) and you are a non-Eu citizen, no private german insurance company will cover you unless you have been paying into the Gesetzliche Krankenkasse for at least 1 year.

Uh, I never had that problem in my first year here. I'm sure it probably depends on your situation at work. If your company has an agreement with some specific insurance companies, as mine does, that shouldn't be a problem. It'd definitely be worth checking if what jpp888 says is the standard.

[jpp888 3]

interplanetjanet: I am assuming that you used the Gesetzliche Krankenkasse? If not, then it was definately a special case with the private, as just to walk in and get private insurance has been a huge problem for me (as said in earlier posts).

 

There are a lot of rules that have to be met, and even though every insurance company would throw insurance offers at me, in the end they would take them back as soon as they found out the true situation (most assume that you are here on holiday, or you are an ex-pat here, or that you are here for some other reason and it is only short term...when they find out that your permanent home is in germany, they will refuse you insurance!).

 

This has been a huge problem for me, and it just seems strange that so many people have come here and gotten private insurance when I have talked to literally every major and small insurance company in germany, and every one has told me the same thing: that I cant be insured privately without either a permanent residence permit or without having paid into the Gesetzliche Krankenkasse for minimum 1 year.

 

I am just wondering what everyone else's situation is where they have been non EU citizens and have been given private insurance. Are you married to a german or do you already have a permanent residence permit? Is your primary home still listed as being outside germany? Is there some other exemption that I dont know of?

[Elfenstar 1,676]

i am wondering why YOU had so many problems? and what is your TRUE situation?

 

thing is, gov't-sponsored insurance supports everyone. private companies only want low-risk/temporary residents or rich peeps.

[anabi 5]

From yoyo's earlier post and checking www.expacare.com (where I got an very inexpensive online quote which is good for 30 days) I sent an email yesterday saying I wanted to purchase. 30 minutes later a account rep emailed back a simple form with name, address, last doctor and payment info (no deep questions into my history - strange). Faxed it back and within 2 hours I have health insurance.

 

FYI - I am a US citizen and still have my primary address in the US (though I gave them my US address).

 

I also think that the way it reads if I did not disclose (even though no place on the form) major prior conditions then I could be nailed (I have none).

 

Heard that these folks are fine and no real problems (though I have no first hand experience since this is my first day of coverage!)

[jpp888 3]

My situation is a bad one. I was hired by a german company in their german office. I was fresh from the univerity, and the company took advantage of a stupid foreigner who didnt know any better and hired me as an expat. This means I earned less money than the germans, didnt have the same rights, and they forced me to pay US Social Security, Medicare, etc. This means I never paid into the Sozialkasse and so had no Gesestzliche Krankenversicherung. They filled out an exemption form, saying I was an ex-pat, which exempted me from the Sozialkasse here and said I was required to pay Social Security, etc in the US. This saved the company thousands of Euros.

 

I found this all out soon after beginning, but the company promised me a german contract after 18 months (in writing), so I didnt 'rock and the boat' and accepted my situation. After the 18 months was up they didnt give me a german contract and told me if I didnt go and work in the US at their office there I would be fired. Since I had never paid into the Sozialkasse in Germany, I had no unemployment money, no health insurance, no rights, etc. However, I chose to be fired and live in germany with no income rather than go and work in the US for $60.000 a year. I ended up reporting them to the goverment for withholding taxes and cheating me. I didnt think I would get anything out of it, since what they did is uncharted territory (it is totally legal, but only when you are an expat...I was an immigrant, and no one has ever fought a company for this reason before).

 

I assumed the worst, and so I searched for private health insurance, since that was a requirement for getting a visa. My permanent residence is in Germany and I had never paid into the Gesetzlichekrankenkasse, so no one would insure me. That is the reason I have been telling everone to be careful when searching for private insurance here. There are a lot of rules. But as one of the posts said, they have their permanent address in the US, so in this case they will give you insurance.

 

It was a long and drawn out story, but I finally won against the company (I cant be hired as a US expat if I never worked in the US office!) and didnt even have to take them to court. I went though the US government and got the social security office to cancel the exemption (imagine how difficult it is to tell the US government that you will never return to the US, you will give up your US citizenship, and that you want a refund of all your Social Security and Medicare taxes from 2 years!). As soon as this exemption was cancelled, the German government came down hard on the company and forced them to pay all back taxes.

 

I know this all has nothing to do with the post, but since you asked, there is the story!

[eurobabs 644]

Just to give an update to clarify getting private health ins. A certain TTer keeps posting that it is impossible to get private health ins if you have not paid into the state ins or have a perm residency in DE or are a student etc...

 

This is complete BS - You can. I am a self employed person, American, never worked for German comp or paid into German system, have only current German limited 1 yr residency permit and have been able to get ins without any problems what so ever, as several others have also stated, they have gotten it as well. So to those of you looking for info, ignore the "advice" given that you can not get private ins.

 

All that needs done is to go to a dr and get a check-up and have them complete a provided form. Once this form is complete and you are deamed healthy (a very simple form) your ins starts the first of the next month.

 

For any of you who have had problems finding private health ins - here is who I went through

 

DKV

agent - Carsten Intelmann

phone - 089 74 33 020

web www.intelmann.de

address:

Lindwurmstr. 193

[Hutcho 2,227]

I'm looking for some private insurance now.

 

I've looked at the companies in this thread and some mentioned in others (like BUPA or AXA) and they all seem to be reasonably priced, however they rarely include routine dental work.

 

Does anyone out there have a good private insurance plan that includes dental?

 

Thanks!

[kitkat64 461]

Yep, HUK Coburg. So far I've had two root canals, surgery on my jaw, and a mouth guard to protect my teeth from grinding when I sleep. So far I've only actually paid out of my own pocket 20% of the cost for the mouth guard. Everything else was 100%

[Carm 74]

I have AXA, and it covers all dental! I worked out a good contract. I also looked at HUK Coburg but they were about 200 Euro a month more.

I have never had problems with Axa at all.

 

I went thru an Insurance man, and he asked what I was looking for, what I wanted to spend, and then came up with about 8 plans from different companies, and then I selected what was best for me.

Have the name at home though.

[Guest]

I have a independent one who provided me with excellent coverage. She speaks English as well. Barbara Zahn 08341-2733

[Barney 5]

Hallo all,

 

am interested to find out on peoples experiences with gaining private health insurance in germany (living in munich)!!

is it recommended-worth it? Have allready been to the doctors and paid thru the nose for it as my travel insurance ran out after some months of being here and have been just winging it ever since!! (luckily not been sick)

 

have a work permit but that doesn´t mean one is covered by the krankenkasse right!!!

 

am concerned something will happen to me and have to pay huge medical costs, plus need to go for dental check ups etc and again don´t want to pay heaps of euros!!

 

but is private expensive and is it available to non german residents?

 

any tips, info on what is available, cover options and expected costs would be greatly appreciated!!

 

hope i remain healthy in the meanwhile!!

 

 

Topics merged by admin

[YorkshireLad6 7,152]

It's not just "recommended" or "worth it" - adequate personal medical cover is a legal requirement to be resident here.

[Small Town Boy 6,672]

How much did you pay for the doctors when you "paid through the nose"? I have no insurance for minor visits to the doctors, and usually pay around €35 for a brief consultation.

 

I do, however, have private insurance to cover me for emergency treatment and/or hospitalisation. If you get hit by a bus then it can potentially cost tens of thousands of euros if you need emergency operations but have no insurance.

 

This topic has been covered lots of times before so there is a wealth of information on this forum. Just type 'health insurance' into the search field and off you go ;)