Key takeaways
- You should get private health insurance if you want the best medical coverage.
- Private health insurance is cheaper for high earners in Germany.
- With proper planning, private health insurance costs are lower than public after retirement.
- Private health insurance offers up to 100% dental coverage, better treatment options, faster doctor’s appointments, medical aids, and more.
This is how you do it
- Use our “Health Insurance Finder” tool to identify which health insurance is best for you and why.
- Consult an insurance broker or a fee-based advisor for personalized advice. You can ask your questions to the insurance brokers we recommend for free.
Table of Contents
Healthcare in Germany
The German healthcare system is one of the best in the world. In 2024, CEOworld magazine ranked it eighth in the world.
The German healthcare system is based on solidarity. This means that everyone gets the same health services regardless of their contributions and health risks.
The German healthcare is divided into two groups: public and private health insurance. Both systems have their pros and cons.
However, private health insurance offers the best medical coverage in Germany. On the other hand, public health insurance is a good choice for low-income individuals or families with sole earners.
You can use our “Health Insurance Finder” tool to check which health insurance is best for you and why.
How Does the German Healthcare System Work?
Everyone in Germany is legally required to have a valid health insurance policy.
Both the insured individual and their employer contribute equally to the health insurance premiums. If you are self-employed, you bear all the costs.
Every resident gets a health insurance card. They can use it to obtain medical services such as doctor’s visits, hospital care, medicines, etc.
Your German health insurance also covers you within the EU and the countries with which Germany has social security agreements.
However, the health insurance coverage outside Germany is not comprehensive. Thus, travelers should get international travel health insurance.
What are the benefits of private health insurance in Germany?
Here is a quick overview of the benefits you get by switching to private health insurance in Germany.
- Cheaper for high-earners
- Better medical coverage
- Faster doctor’s appointments
- Better treatments are available for diseases like cancer, tumors, etc.
- Covers up to 100% of the dental treatment costs
- Aging reserves keep premiums stable in old age. With proper planning, you can even reduce your premium.
- Private health insurers cannot change the contractually agreed-upon medical coverage. On the other hand, public health insurance providers reduce their coverage every year.
Let’s dig a bit deeper into the services private health insurance providers offer.
Outpatient care
Doctor and vaccinations
- You can go directly to the specialist.
- Doctors prefer patients with private health insurance. It’s because doctors are paid more by privately insured people.
- 100% of medicine costs are covered by private health insurance.
- Preventive examinations allow early detection and treatment of a disease. That’s why the German government has made certain preventive examinations mandatory for every insurer. However, good private health insurance plans go beyond the mandatory examinations. They also pay for preventive examinations, such as cancer screening examinations, cardiovascular examinations, diabetes, and kidney examinations.
- Vaccination costs: Statutory health insurance doesn’t cover all vaccinations. However, good private health insurance tariffs do.
Medical aids and alternative medicine
- Visual aids: Buying glasses or contact lenses is expensive. Public health insurance doesn’t cover any costs. On the other hand, good private health insurance plans cover up to 500 € every two years.
- Covers laser surgery
- 100% reimbursement of hearing aids, wheelchairs, and other aids that you may need. Moreover, you get access to the latest and most modern aids instead of the basic ones.
- Private health insurance tariffs also reimburse part or all of the costs of alternative medicines, such as homeopathy, naturopathy, acupuncture, etc.
Psychotherapy
Every one in five employees in Germany has been diagnosed with depression. Unfortunately, getting an appointment with a psychologist could take publicly insured people 3 to 6 months.
On the other hand, privately insured individuals can get an appointment within a week.
Inpatient services
- Get treatment in the hospital of your choice.
- The chief doctor treat you.
- Private health insurance covers the costs of a private room.
- Public health insurance works on the principle of basic medical treatment that is sufficient and cost-effective. It doesn’t cover the treatments that are modern and less painful to the patient. On the other hand, private health insurance covers such treatments.
Example:
Sarah has private health insurance. She is diagnosed with cancer and is recommended chemotherapy.
Luckily, her private health insurance plan covers adaptive chemotherapy. This is less painful and adapts to Sarah’s immune system.
On the other hand, if Sarah had public health insurance, she would have received the basic chemotherapy that is a lot more painful.
There are many cases like Sarah’s where the privately insured get access to better and less painful treatments that the publicly insured can’t.
Dental care
- Good private health insurance policies cover 90% to 100% of dental treatment costs.
- The dental coverage is unlimited after 5 years.
- Good tariffs cover the dental costs above the maximum doctor’s fee schedule rate of 3.5.
Why doesn’t everyone get private health insurance in Germany?
There is no doubt that private health insurance offers better medical coverage than statutory insurance. So, why do people still stay in public insurance?
There are many reasons behind it.
- Not everyone can get private health insurance. You must earn above the income threshold of 69,300 € (as of 2024) gross annually.
- Private health insurance providers only take young and healthy individuals.
- You cannot insure your non-working family members for free in private insurance. So, families with sole earners usually cannot afford private health insurance.
- Last but not least, there are many myths about private health insurance in Germany, such as the myth that it is unaffordable in old age. However, that’s not true.
The income threshold (69,300 € per annum) prevents most of the German population from getting private health insurance. This is because the average income (49,260 per annum as of 2022) is way below the income threshold. [1]
Only 15.4% of the earning population of Germany has an income above 70,000 € per annum.
How do you get private health insurance in Germany?
Private health insurance is a complicated product. Thus, we recommend the following.
- Educate yourself about the German health system.
- Consult an insurance broker or a fee-based advisor for personalized advice. You can ask your questions to the insurance brokers we recommend for free.
- Then, decide whether to get private health insurance or not.
In our comparison and test, we found Haellesche’s and Signal Iduna’s private health insurance plans among the best.
