Understanding the German Healthcare System: An Overview
What is the difference between public and private insurance in Germany?
Public Health Insurance: The public health insurance system – also known as statutory health insurance or gesetzliche Krankenversicherung (GKV) in German – offers a basic, universal standard of healthcare to everyone resident in Germany.
Private Health Insurance: Private health insurance providers – Of the 42 ordinary member companies, 36 offer comprehensive health insurance – have far greater scope to tailor their coverage and offer premium treatments and services.
This table will show you the key differencies between the two systems:
Who is eligible for public vs. private health insurance?
In Germany, the health insurance system is divided into two main categories: statutory health insurance (GKV) and private health insurance (PKV).
- Employees: Most employees are required to have GKV unless their income exceeds a certain threshold, known as the annual pay threshold (Jahresarbeitsentgeltgrenze) of €77,400 per year. This is adjusted for inflation every year, which means you need to check the current income threshold before signing up for private insurance. Employees earning above this amount can switch to PKV if they choose.
- Self-employed individuals: They have the freedom to opt for PKV from the start of their self-employment, regardless of how much they earn.
- Civil servants (Beamte): They receive a government subsidy for their health costs, known as Beihilfe, which covers a significant portion of medical expenses. Because of this, they are typically not required to be in the GKV and can use this subsidy to pay for private health insurance, making it a very popular choice.
- Students and other groups also have specific rules regarding their eligibility for public (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung, short GKV) or private health insurance (private Krankenversicherung, short PKV), but the prompt's question specifically addresses the two groups mentioned.
- Spouses and children: If you are married to your partner or if your relationship is recognized as a domestic partnership, your provider can also cover your partner, as long as they do not earn income or earn below a certain threshold. Your Children can also be privately insured. But everybody pays their own premium, there is no cost-free family insurance like in public health insurance.
The following graph illustrates the development GKV (statutory health insurance) and PKV (private health insurance) contributions.
Are there other options than private or public health insurance?
Insurance from other EU countries
If you are from a different EU country you have the option to use your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) in Germany. That means even when you get health insurance in Germany, your insurance in the other EU Country will pay for it.
Attention this only works when:
- you stay in Germany temporarily, your EHIC covers you then. Extra health insurance is not necessary.
- If you are an Erasmus student from another EU country, then your EHIC also covers you for your entire degree.
When you start working in Germany, your EHIC does not cover you anymore. If your payment is more than 520 Euro you need to get a german health insurance
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