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German health insurance: what makes sense for you?

No matter what you are doing in Germany, you are required to have some form of health insurance – either public or private. Yet depending at what stage you are in life – employed, self-employed, raising a family or a student – you may have very specific needs from that health insurance.

Published: 9 December 2021 13:41 CET

German health insurance: what makes sense for you?

Photo: Getty Images

Together with digital insurance provider ottonova, we look at what you may require from your compulsory health insurance, depending on your situation – and whether private health insurance could be the right option for you.

If you’re employed

It’s important that as an international worker, you have the coverage you need to meet your healthcare needs. Whether you’re working part- or full-time, private health insurance (Private Krankenversicherung, or ‘PKV’) gives you important peace of mind to focus on your career, giving you one less thing to worry about while working abroad.

Compared to public health insurance (Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung or ‘GKV’), you are able to access a wider and more-comprehensive range of medications and treatments. If you’re able to meet the income threshold to take out private insurance (€64,350 per year), you can also be sure that you are able to save money, especially when it comes to the premiums you would otherwise be paying in the public health system.

There are a few other things you should keep in mind regarding health insurance as an employee. If you get ill, your employer will pay your salary for six weeks. After that, if you have private health insurance, it will kick in with a daily sickness allowance – the level of which you can decide when taking out cover.

If your salary drops below the income threshold, you will need to switch to public health insurance. If your situation changes again, you can then apply for an exemption that will allow you to continue with private health insurance.

On the same topic, while it is generally fairly difficult to switch from private to public health insurance later in life, there are several ways that you can do it without too much of a cost burden, such as switching to a spouse’s or family plan. If you lose your job, you are also able to switch back to public health insurance. Many services also exist to help you navigate between the two systems, depending on your situation.

Employees who have private health insurance can also access a range of preventative screenings and other treatments that could help you enjoy a healthy, fulfilling career.

Book a non-binding consultation with one of ottonova’s English-speaking insurance experts today

If you’re self-employed

If you’re self-employed, or run your own business, you’ll want to carefully consider your options, because if you can’t work, your income will be severely affected. Luckily you benefit from being able to choose between public and private health insurance, if you’re self-employed, or a business owner.

Private health insurance may make sense as a self-employed person. If you get ill, you won’t only get access to better treatments and more comprehensive care, but you’ll also have access to a daily sickness allowance payed by your insurance – so you’ll be back making your own decisions as soon as possible.

Another possible advantage of private health insurance as a self-employed person is the fact that private policies are very flexible – there are many options that you can choose from, to ensure your specific needs are met.

With private health insurance you are also able to make preparations for old age and retirement, with such measures as ageing reserves – additional, voluntary payments that can be used towards your later care, keeping your premiums stable in old age.

Finally, if you’re travelling, you can also rest assured that depending on your tariff, you’ll be covered worldwide.

If you have a family

If you have a family, nothing is more important than health. If you qualify for private healthcare in Germany, choosing which type of insurance to use is a big decision and you’ll want to carefully weigh up all your options.

Taking out private health insurance for families means that you have access to the best possible healthcare for your partner and children. Concierge services, as offered by a number of providers, means that much of the burden of organising appointments and paperwork can be removed, and you can be reminded of what’s coming up for your family in terms of procedures and treatments.

Private health insurance means that you are able to access top of the line treatments and medications, without restrictions, that clearly meet the needs of your family members.

If you have private health insurance, you also have total control of coverage, deductibles and sickness allowance. You can adjust these when you want, to reflect the changing needs of your family.

Furthermore, you’re likely to save money with private insurance if you have a family. If your family’s combined income is above the annual threshold, you will pay the maximum premium within public health system for procedures, treatments and preventive examinations.

Safeguard your family and yourself and arrange a no-obligation consultation with ottonova’s English-speaking experts

If you’re a student

As a student, you’re just starting your journey and life, and you’re far more flexible in your needs than later in life. It’s a good thing, then, that as a student you have the option to choose either public or private insurance. Many employees don’t have this option, so it’s really worth weighing up your options if you have the chance – you can sign up to three months after enrolment at university. You also have another opportunity when your family insurance ends.

While not many students have private health insurance, joining early is an excellent decision. This is because your premiums are based on the age that you join. Premiums as a student also don’t include any ageing provisions, making them even cheaper. Best of all, student tariffs can be accessed until age 37.

If you’re not sure whether private health insurance is right for you at this time, you might also like to consider supplementary insurance, such as dental or hospitalization insurance, which can fill the gaps of your public insurance coverage and give you extra peace of mind, when you need it.

A smart choice, entirely in English

When choosing private health insurance, there are a number of good reasons to consider ottonova. First, almost everything from your individual coverage, daily sickness allowance, doctors appointments and so on can be controlled from the ottonova app – it’s a totally digital service.

Second, all services and the app are entirely in English, reminding you of upcoming appointments and organising all your relevant medical documentation. Operating through an app allows lightning-fast reimbursement of medical bills up to €500 within 48 hours, on weekdays.

Your English-speaking concierge helps you through all aspects of the German healthcare system, and assists you in accessing the best healthcare available, like finding English-speaking doctors, and securing appointments with specialists promptly.

Finally, you’re able to access supplementary insurance through ottonova that you can use to provide extra coverage for your public health insurance, in areas such as dental and hospitalization, and also benefit from all digital services.

Explore ottonova’s wide range of private health insurance solutions with one of their English-speaking experts and take control of your healthcare

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10 essential tips for avoiding rental scams in Germany

When it comes to settling in Germany, one of the most stressful and difficult tasks you’re likely to face is finding a place to live.

With the country in the grip of an ever-worsening housing shortage, there aren’t enough rental properties to meet the high demand – especially in big cities like Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt – and the flats that are available can often stretch even the most healthy of budgets.

With renters desperate to find affordable homes, crafty scammers have seized the chance to place fake ads on the market, often in dream locations with lower-than-average rents.

While some of these scams may be easy to spot, others can be highly sophisticated, with fraudsters setting up professional-looking websites and even allowing hopeful tenants to view their properties in person.

Recently The Local reported on a Polish couple who lost around €7,000 through a rental scam in Berlin. The scammers had sublet a beautiful Altbau apartment in the popular district of Neukölln and created an advert for it via a fake letting agent website, then arranged for people to use a key box to view the property while the real tenants were away.

Despite checking the contract over with legal experts from their local tenants’ association, nobody saw anything out of the ordinary – that is, until they tried to access the apartment and found a family already living there.

So, how do you protect your hard-earned savings and steer clear of scammers while looking for a new home?

Here are 10 important ways to protect yourself from rental scams.

1. Be alert to suspicious signs

The key to avoiding scammers in Germany is to be fully clued up on the warning signs. Was the listing for the property uploaded in the middle of the night, is the advert thin on details or written in bad German or English, and does the offer feel too good to be true?

Though it would be nice to believe there are still cheap flats to be found, finding an attractive property at an overly reasonable price is usually a red flag.

Hamburg

Modern apartments in Hamburg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Daniel Bockwoldt

If someone claiming to be a landlord contacts you out of the blue, that’s also your cue to run a mile. With so many people looking for housing, most letting agents and landlords will have more than people looking to rent their properties without needing to get in touch with people themselves. Anyone who does is more than likely to be a scammer.

2. Rule out landlords who say they live abroad

One of the major warning signs to look out for is a landlord who claims to be renting the property from abroad, or who says they are out of the country for other reasons, like a last-minute business trip.

That’s usually a scammer’s way of excusing the fact that they won’t be able to meet you personally or even show you the property before you rent it.

“When the country the landlord lives in appears then I would say there’s a really big chance this is a scam,” said Kuba Rudzinski, one of the victims of the Berlin-Neukölln rental fraud.

Even if the excuse seems plausible, your best bet is to ignore anyone who tries to sell you a story about living abroad and simply move on with your house hunt.

3. Do your research online

Before committing to anything, take time to do some thorough research to scope out the property, landlord and letting agent.

Running the pictures and text used in apartment listings through a search engine like Google will help you quickly identify stock photos and text stolen from other listings. For pictures, this is known as a reverse image search.

A laptop

Photo by 2H Media on Unsplash

It’s also worth checking that any websites you’re sent to are fully functional and not copies of other letting agent sites, and that any email addresses match the website domain.

4. Visit the property and ask around

Never agree to rent a property without seeing it in person first. Arrange a viewing and take the opportunity to ask questions about the property and the neighbourhood.

Kuba also recommends speaking with the neighbours in the building to check if the property is genuinely being rented.

“Go to the place before and ask the neighbours, is this flat really for rent? Because these people generally know,” he said. “You’ll need to convince yourself to do it of course, but just ask in the building, ask on the floor where the flat is.”

5. Don’t transfer the full deposit in advance

Advance payments for anything, whether it’s furniture, a deposit or getting a chance to view the property, should be considered a major red flag.

Under German law, you are usually only expected to pay the deposit by the start of the agreed rental contract – and certainly not several months in advance.

Euro notes lie next to some house keys on a table.

Euro notes lie next to some house keys on a table. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Andrea Warnecke

You are also legally entitled to pay your three months’ deposit in three instalments on top of your first three months’ rent after moving in, so definitely be cautious of landlords that place pressure on you to transfer a large lump sum.

If you’re really concerned, look into alternatives for paying your deposit, such as Kautionversicherung (deposit insurance) or a Mietkautionssparbuch, where you open a bank account and pledge the amount to the landlord, rather than transferring the money directly.

6. Insist on meeting the landlord or letting agent in person

If a landlord or letting agent refuses to meet you in person or insists on conducting all communication online, they’re probably not who they say they are.

Insist on meeting face-to-face to verify their identity and ensure they have a legitimate connection to the property.

7. Avoid sending documents straight away

Not all rental scams are about getting money from you directly: many scammers are simply after your personal details for the purposes of identity theft.

Be wary of providing personal documents or sensitive information before you’ve verified the legitimacy of the rental agreement, especially when it comes to things like passport scans or other forms of ID.

8. Seek legal advice from experts

If you’re unsure about any aspect of the rental agreement or if something seems suspicious, seek advice from legal experts or tenants’ associations.

However, be aware that this isn’t always a cast-iron guarantee that a tenancy is legitmate. Over the past few years, fraudsters have become increasingly sophisticated, even down to producing water-tight rental contracts for would-be tenants.

An estate agent hands over keys to an apartment. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Christin Klose

According to civil lawyer Emilia Tintelnot, becoming a member of a tenants’ association can be a good way to get affordable legal advice, and it can also be helpful to set up legal insurance to ensure you can access help when you need it without having to pay lawyers’ fees up front.

9. Be wary of stereotypes

Avoid making assumptions based on stereotypes or preconceived notions about someone’s gender or nationality, as this may cause you to overlook things you might otherwise see as warning signs.

In Kuba’s case, the fact that the fraudsters were German made them appear more legitimate in his eyes, as Polish people tend to see Germans as law-abiding and trustworthy.

Be aware that scammers can come from any cultural background and may use a variety of tactics to deceive unsuspecting renters.

10. Keep an extensive paper trail

Document all communication, agreements, and transactions related to the rental process, including phone numbers and any bank details provided.

According to the Berlin police, this type of evidence can be crucial for an investigation if you do suspect a scammer.

While evidence can differ across cases, “pictures, contact details used by the perpetrators, original documents, bank details with payment receipts” are particularly helpful for investigators, and could help the police stop the scammers for good.

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