Private health insurance

Private health insurance offers far more than statutory health insurance providers – and you can tailor your benefits package to your individual needs. Depending on your needs, you can insure things like daily sickness benefits, single or double hospital rooms, high reimbursements for dentures, free choice of doctors and clinics, or even treatments by alternative practitioners.Affordable standard plans cover similar benefits to statutory health insurance providers, while comfort plans offer you extended insurance coverage with better dental and hospital services. Premium plans provide first-class protection, offering you full reimbursement for high-quality dentures, treatment by a senior physician, and a single hospital room.

Anyone who is not subject to statutory health insurance can take out private health insurance.
This affects, among others, the following groups of people:
-Self-employed and freelancers (except artists, journalists and farmers)
-Officials, judges and persons entitled to assistance
-Employees with a gross income above the compulsory insurance limit
-Persons without their own income or with an income below the marginal income threshold (e.g. housewives, househusbands, children)
-Students who are exempt from compulsory insurance or are older than 30 years

Due to rising healthcare costs, premiums for private health insurance may also increase. To keep premiums stable over the long term, insurers set aside statutory retirement reserves. If you want to save in retirement, you can switch to a cheaper standard plan that offers similar benefits to statutory health insurance. Even foregoing extra benefits such as daily sickness benefits, treatment by a senior physician, or a private room can significantly reduce your premiums.

Tipp: If you regularly save to take advantage of the low PKV premiums in the initial period, you can later use this capital for your PKV in retirement

Switching from private health insurance back to statutory health insurance is possible if your gross income falls below the current annual wage limit. However, please note that people over 55 generally do not have the right to return to statutory health insurance unless you have been compulsorily insured in the statutory health insurance system for at least two and a half years in the last five years.

Returning to statutory health insurance should be carefully considered, as the retirement savings accrued in private health insurance will be lost. However, if you opt for a cheaper standard private health insurance plan, the retirement savings will remain fully intact.