Key takeaways
- Everyone traveling outside Germany should get an international travel insurance policy.
- Your public or private health insurance covers only a fraction of medical costs outside Germany.
- International travel health insurance costs only 8€ per annum for singles and covers 100% of the medical expenses you may incur on your trip outside Germany.
This is how you do it
- If you already have travel insurance, check if it still offers coverage that is as good as other providers.
- Get the international travel health insurance policy before the start of the trip.
- We find Barmenia* and Münchener Verein* travel insurance plans among the best for short trips.
- You can take Dr-Walter’s Protrip World* for trips longer than ten weeks. For example, you are planning to study or work abroad.
Table of Contents
Best international travel health insurance for expats in Germany traveling the world
In our research, we found Barmenia* and Münchener Verein* to be the best international travel health insurance providers in Germany for short trips (up to 56 days).
| Premium | Barmenia (Travel+) | Münchner Verein (Tarif 502) |
| Single | (18 to 65) 16.90 € per annum (from 66) 59.60 € per annum | ⭐ (0 to 64) 8.4 € per annum (from 65) 19.80 € per annum (from 75) 28.2 € per annum |
| Family | (18 to 65) 33.80 € per annum (from 66) 115 € per annum | ⭐ (0 to 64) 18.60 € per annum (from 65) 39.60 € per annum (from 75) 59.40 € per annum |
International travel insurance
- 100% coverage of medical treatment outside Germany
- Covers up to 56 days per trip and an unlimited number of trips in a year
- Covers repatriation costs that make medical sense
- Covers the cost of an accompanying member in case of a minor
International travel insurance
- 100% coverage of medical treatment outside Germany
- Covers up to 70 days per trip and an unlimited number of trips in a year
- Covers repatriation costs that make medical sense
- Covers the cost of an accompanying member in case of a minor
If you are traveling for more than eight or ten weeks, you need different travel health insurance. For longer trips, you can get travel health insurance from Dr-Walter.
Protrip World* offers coverage for trips up to 24 months. It’s suitable for digital nomads, au pairs, pupils, students, and travelers.
Dr-Walter Protrip World
- Option to cover within EU, outside EU excluding or including USA and Canada.
- For stays abroad longer than ten weeks.
- Covers for up to 24 months
- Suitable for AU pairs, students, workers, trainees, etc.
What is international travel insurance (Auslandreiseversicherung) in Germany?
International travel health insurance covers the treatment costs you may incur while traveling outside Germany. It is called Auslandreiseversicherung in German.
Suppose you are on a vacation and break your leg. Not only will it ruin your trip, but it will also blow up your vacation budget.
In such situations, travel health insurance can come in handy. It covers your treatment costs and the cost of bringing you back home if necessary.
Do you know a single day in a hospital in the USA can cost 194,000€? This was the case with one of the Debeka members [1].
If you don’t have international travel insurance, you must pay this cost from your own pocket.
Difference between incoming travel insurance and international travel insurance in Germany
Many people often get confused between incoming and international travel insurance. They are two completely different products.
Incoming travel health insurance is for people who are not German residents and need health coverage while traveling to Germany.
On the other hand, international travel insurance is for German residents traveling outside Germany.
| Incoming travel health insurance | International travel health insurance |
| For people who are not German residents | For German residents |
| People traveling to Germany | People traveling outside Germany |
| It’s called “Incomingversicherung” or “Krankenversicherung für Gäste” in German. | It’s called “Auslandreiseversicherung” or “Reiseversicherung” in German. |
Is international travel health insurance worth it in Germany?
Yes, international travel health insurance is totally worth it. It costs only 8€ per annum for individuals, and families can be insured for as low as 19€ per annum.
For such a low cost, it covers hundreds of thousands of euros of your medical treatment expenses abroad.
Everyone should get good travel health insurance before the start of their vacation.
International travel insurance
- 100% coverage of medical treatment outside Germany
- Covers up to 56 days per trip and an unlimited number of trips in a year
- Covers repatriation costs that make medical sense
- Covers the cost of an accompanying member in case of a minor
International travel insurance
- 100% coverage of medical treatment outside Germany
- Covers up to 70 days per trip and an unlimited number of trips in a year
- Covers repatriation costs that make medical sense
- Covers the cost of an accompanying member in case of a minor
Real-life examples of treatment costs outside Germany
- Heart attack when in Turkey: One of the travelers had a heart attack when visiting Turkey. He has to be hospitalized for the treatment. The public health insurance only covered 300€ of the 60,000€ bill.
- A single day in a hospital in the USA costs 194,000 € to a traveler. Public or private health insurance either doesn’t cover the costs or reimburses a negligible amount.
- Repatriation cost within the EU: A flight to bring you back home from an EU country can cost tens of thousands of euros. Public and private health insurance doesn’t cover repatriation costs.
- Repatriation cost from Asia or Australia: As per ADAC, it can cost up to 130,000 €.
German public health insurance coverage outside Germany
- Public health insurance partially covers you within the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. It also offers coverage in countries where Germany has a social security agreement. However, the coverage is minimal and hardly pays anything.
- German public health insurance reimburses the amount that the public insurance of your visiting country reimburses.
- Public healthcare in other European countries is not as good as in Germany. Moreover, many doctors in other European countries offer private treatments that are not covered by their country’s public health insurance.
- Public health insurance doesn’t reimburse 100% of the public treatment costs. You must pay part of it on your own.
In short, German public health insurance only covers a fraction of the actual medical costs abroad.
German private health insurance coverage outside Germany
Like public health insurance, private health insurance also offers coverage with the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
Depending on your private health insurance plan, you may also have coverage outside Europe. However, most private health insurance plans don’t cover repatriation costs.
Thus, you should check with your private health insurance provider about coverage outside Germany.
Even if your private health insurance offers medical coverage, getting international travel insurance is still worth it for the following reasons.
- Travel health insurance only costs 8 € per annum.
- You can claim the medical expenses from your travel insurance instead of private health insurance. This way, your no-claim bonus of private health insurance isn’t affected. And usually, the no-claim bonus is way more than 8 €.
- International travel insurance offers comprehensive coverage outside Germany. For example, covering repatriation costs.
Other types of travel insurance that make sense
- International travel health insurance (must): covers the costs of medical treatment abroad and transportation costs back to the home country.
- Travel liability insurance (must): covers you for up to 3 million euros if you cause damage to a third party. It’s similar to personal liability insurance, which everyone must have in Germany.
- Travel cancellation insurance: covers the costs of trip cancellation and interruption. It makes sense if your booking costs are high and non-refundable.
- Travel accident insurance: Pays in the event of death (10,000€) and total disability (30,000€). You should get it if you plan to do sports activities that are prone to accidents.
- Travel luggage insurance: covers luggage damage or loss (up to 3,000€ for singles and 6,000€ for families). You should get it if you are carrying valuables with you.
Based on the recommendations of top insurance brokers and Stiftung Warentest, we find Barmenia* and Münchener Verein* to be the best travel insurance policy providers.
Both insurers offer all of the above types of travel insurance as add-ons.
What does good international travel insurance cover?
- Free choice of doctor and hospital at your holiday destination
- Reimbursement of costs for essential treatments like outpatient and inpatient treatment, treatment of sports injuries, and reimbursement for necessary aids such as crutches.
- Dental treatments, repairs to existing dentures, and temporary dentures
- Reimbursement of costs for the accommodation of an accompanying person in the hospital if a co-insured minor child requires inpatient treatment
- You should ensure that the provider pays for the return transport if it makes medical sense and justification—and not only if it’s absolutely necessary. “Repatriation makes medical sense” means you can be treated abroad, but treatment in Germany promises better success. Thus, you should be brought back home.
- Reimbursement of costs of the return transport of an accompanying person. Suppose your minor child falls ill and has to be brought back to Germany with an accompanying person.
- Transmission of messages to the insured person’s family or company in the event of illness abroad (assistance service)
- 24-hour emergency service
- Cover search and rescue costs of at least 5,000€.
- Covers any number of trips within a year
- Covers a trip for up to 56 days. The insurance covers all your trips within a year. So, if you took three trips of 50 days each, all of them are insured.
- It covers the country you are traveling to.
- Your insurance coverage should be extended until you are fit for transport.
- Insurance company takes part in the ombudsman process
- Covers pre-existing illnesses
- Travel insurance doesn’t cover the treatment costs you know you’ll need before the trip. However, suppose your pre-existing illness, like asthma, is being treated, and you are fit to travel. But your illness (asthma in this example) worsens during the trip. In this case, your insurance policy should cover the costs.
- Illnesses caught during a pandemic. Covid has taught us many lessons. One is to ensure coverage for pandemic diseases when traveling abroad, including COVID-19.
- Your travel health insurance should offer coverage, even if the Foreign Office issues a travel warning for your destination country due to a pandemic.
- If your partner is pregnant, ensure your travel insurance covers the cost of premature childbirth, miscarriage, or complications during pregnancy.
- Transfer/burial at the place of death (up to 10,000 €)
- Hospital daily allowance of 15€ per day
NOTE: You need different health insurance for longer trips, like working or spending a semester in a foreign country.
What does international travel health insurance NOT cover?
- Psychotherapy and psychoanalytic treatments.
- Costs of preventive examinations of a pregnant woman and childbirth.
- Good tariffs do not generally exclude pre-existing illnesses. However, it doesn’t cover the treatments you already know you’ll need before the trip. Example: You suffered a back injury before your vacation. You have already started physiotherapy sessions and know you’ll need more sessions during your trip. Such planned and foreseeable treatments are not covered by international travel health insurance.
- If you visit a country where the Federal Office has issued a travel warning due to war or terrorism, the travel insurance won’t cover you. However, if the travel warning was issued after the start of the trip, then you are covered.
- Spa treatment for rehabilitation measures.
International travel health insurance for short trips outside Germany
For travels up to 50 days, you can get international travel health insurance from Barmenia* or Münchener Verein*.
When comparing different travel insurance tariffs, we considered the recommendations of top insurance brokerage companies (Bierl, Schleeman), the Stiftung Warentest score, coverage, and customer reviews.
International travel insurance
- 100% coverage of medical treatment outside Germany
- Covers up to 56 days per trip and an unlimited number of trips in a year
- Covers repatriation costs that make medical sense
- Covers the cost of an accompanying member in case of a minor
International travel insurance
- 100% coverage of medical treatment outside Germany
- Covers up to 70 days per trip and an unlimited number of trips in a year
- Covers repatriation costs that make medical sense
- Covers the cost of an accompanying member in case of a minor
International travel health insurance for long vacations outside Germany
For trips longer than 70 days, a normal international travel health insurance policy doesn’t work. You must get long-term travel health insurance.
You can get travel health insurance from Dr-Walter’s Protrip World* covers you for up to 24 months and is suitable for
- Au-pair
- Work and Travel participants
- Trainee
- Language student
- Student
- Volunteer
- Long-term vacationers
- non-posted workers
Moreover, if you forgot to take travel insurance before your trip, you can take Dr-Walter’s Protrip World* during your trip.
Dr-Walter Protrip World
- Option to cover within EU, outside EU excluding or including USA and Canada.
- For stays abroad longer than ten weeks.
- Covers for up to 24 months
- Suitable for AU pairs, students, workers, trainees, etc.
Which health insurance do you need to study or work outside Germany?
During our research, we found Dr-Walter’s Protrip World* a good travel health insurance plan for students planning to study outside Germany.
Protrip World is also a good option for workers assigned to work outside Germany.
When must you take out international travel health insurance?
You can take out international travel insurance at the last minute or in advance. The insurance companies offer coverage immediately, and there is no waiting period.
However, it’s best to get an international travel insurance that covers all the trips in a year. The policy renews automatically every year.
So, you have to get it once, and you and your family are covered for all your trips outside Germany.
Travel insurance companies revise their tariffs regularly. Thus, you should check your existing travel insurance plan every two years and get a new policy if you find gaps in the existing one.
How do you claim international travel insurance benefits in an emergency?
Travel within the EU
- Carry your health insurance card with you. You don’t need an EHIC card; your public health insurance card already has it printed on its back.
- You can use your health insurance card in the hospitals for treatments. The hospital will charge the insurance company directly.
- There will be costs that you must pay on your own and are not covered by your public health insurance. You can claim them from your travel health insurance once you return home.
- Always carry the international travel insurance number and emergency number provided by your insurer.
- Contact the travel insurance company to clarify the documents they need to reimburse the costs. This way, you can request the hospital or doctors for the required documents.
Travel outside the EU
- Public health insurance doesn’t work outside the EU or in countries with which Germany doesn’t have a social security agreement.
- You must pay the costs on your own, and the travel health insurance company will reimburse you later.
- For expensive treatments, you or your relatives must call the travel insurance company. The insurer can provide the hospital with a guarantee that the treatment expenses are covered. This way, you don’t have to pay hundreds of thousands of euros before the treatment.
You can do the whole claim process online or in the insurance company’s app. You must upload all the invoices when claiming the insurance benefits.
NOTE: Your invoice should be in German or English and contain the patient’s name, the treating doctor’s name, the diagnosis, and the type of treatment.
Regularly check your current international travel health insurance policy in Germany.
Travel insurance companies regularly revise their contracts. Thus creating gaps in the old insurance policies.
So, you should regularly compare travel health insurance policies and get a new one if your current plan isn’t the best anymore.
We suggest checking your international travel insurance plan once every two years.
