Private health insurance in Germany is the decision you make once and carry for forty years. I will explain it for as long as it takes. In German, English or Arabic.
Why it feels so hard
Eighty pages of terms. Twelve health questions. A decision that is close to irreversible. Hesitating is not a failure to understand — it is common sense.
How it works
After every step you know what happens next. And after every step you can walk away.
Who I help
You pay into a professional pension scheme rather than the state system — which leaves you in retirement without the contribution the state pension would otherwise pay towards your health insurance. Noticing that at 60 is expensive. Planning for it at 30 costs almost nothing.
Talk it through
No income threshold applies to you — private cover is open at any income. But you carry the full premium yourself. And the public system assesses your income retrospectively, which regularly produces unpleasant back-payments.
Talk it through
From a gross annual salary above €77,400 you have the choice in 2026. Your employer contributes to private cover too — half your premium, capped at €613.22 a month. Whether it pays off depends on your age, your health and your family plans.
Talk it through
This is where I say no most often. In the public system children and non-earning partners are covered at no extra cost — privately, every person needs their own contract. With three or four people the maths often flips.
Talk it throughThe fundamental choice
There are good reasons for both. Private is not automatically better. What matters is your situation.
About me
I have advised people on health insurance for twenty years. I started because I kept seeing the same scene around me: someone holding a German form that decides the next forty years of their life — and nobody to explain it in their own language. That is exactly what I do now. From my office in Bad Oeynhausen, for clients across Germany.
“Advice you do not understand is not advice. It is a sale with better manners.”
Mohamad Abdallah
Auf Deutsch
Technical terms explained rather than assumed. Even if German is not your first language.
In English
The whole conversation, the forms, the follow-up. Nothing gets lost because of language.
بالعربية
شرح كامل بلغتك الأم، من أول مكالمة حتى توقيع العقد وما بعده.
Real numbers
Sample case: 35 years old, employed, no children, healthy. All figures are monthly amounts for 2026.
The public figures are based on the official 2026 parameters: contribution ceiling €5,812.50 a month, rate 14.6 % plus the 2.9 % average supplementary rate — your own fund may charge more — long-term care insurance 3.6 % plus the 0.6 % childless surcharge, employer contribution capped at €613.22. The private figures are ranges, not quotes; your actual premium depends on the outcome of the health assessment. Which is precisely why I ask insurers anonymously first, instead of promising you a number here. Different rates apply in Saxony. Individual amounts are rounded.
An appointment at the immigration office, an employer waiting for proof, a rejected application. These are not special cases, they are everyday work. You get a reliable answer on the same working day.
Common questions
Employees whose gross annual salary exceeds €77,400 — that is the income threshold for 2026. Important: if you cross that line through a pay rise, you cannot switch immediately, only from the end of the calendar year. If you start a new job already above it, you can switch straight away. Self-employed people and freelancers can switch regardless of income, as can civil servants and students at the start of their studies. For doctors, the professional pension scheme adds another set of rules.
No. I am paid by the insurer you eventually sign with — not by you. The first conversation is free and commits you to nothing. And if private cover would be the wrong decision for you, I will say so, even though I then earn nothing.
As an employee, if your income falls back below the threshold then in force — through part-time work, parental leave or unemployment, for instance. From the age of 55 it becomes practically impossible: § 6 (3a) SGB V bars the return if you have been outside the public system for five years and were exempt from compulsory insurance or self-employed for at least half of that time. This is the most underestimated point in the whole system — and the reason this decision deserves honest advice.
As a rule, no. The assessment runs through a written questionnaire on pre-existing conditions, medication and treatments over recent years. What matters is answering it fully and truthfully — incorrect answers can still bring down the contract years later. Beforehand I make anonymous enquiries with several insurers, so that a rejection never reaches your record in the first place.
No — and this is the most important difference from the public system. Privately, every family member needs their own contract with their own premium. For children that is typically €100 to €180 a month in our experience. For larger families with one non-earning parent the public system is therefore often cheaper. I will calculate both before you commit.
Your contract goes dormant through a so-called Anwartschaft. Your accumulated ageing provisions and your health rating at the start of the contract are preserved — you return without a new health assessment. This should be arranged before you leave, not afterwards.
In a straightforward case the contract is usually in place within three to five working days. Note the waiting periods, if your tariff has any: the law caps them at three months in general and eight months for dental treatment, dental prosthetics, orthodontics, psychotherapy and childbirth. They do not apply to accidents, and if you are coming straight from previous cover they are normally credited. Some tariffs waive them entirely. If you need proof for the immigration office or an employer, say so in the first conversation — there are ways.
Knowledge
Who must be insured, who gets to choose, how a premium is arrived at and what it does in old age. The overview of the whole field.
12 Minuten RatgeberThe questionnaire decides on acceptance, surcharge or rejection. And on whether the contract will still hold in ten years.
8 Minuten RatgeberThe point at which I advise against it most often — and the rule in § 10 Abs. 3 SGB V that almost nobody knows.
8 MinutenContact
You reach me personally — no call centre, no queue. Usually an answer on the same working day.
Advice in German, English and Arabic — just tell me which is easier for you.