In Germany Public insurance and Private Health insurance, each have their own distinct pricing and requirements (for Private Health) to be eligible.
Public health insurance (Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung GKV) is available to almost everyone and is mandatory in Germany. It’s also partially funded by the government. This provides a large enough security net for the people who are part of the insurance plan.
Germany’s public health insurance costs 14,9% to 16,3% of your gross income (on average 15,9%). The prices vary between different providers (Krankenkassen); however, the maximum you can pay monthly if you’re a high earner above €65k per year will be capped at €461.99 per month.
You can find out here with this online tool that provides a price estimate for those who are interested in knowing if it will be interesting to make the switch:
Feather insurance Private Health Price estimate
Private health insurance is different because it’s the individuals who fully fund it. This is possible because private health insurance premiums depend on a person’s general health and age when signing up and include old age savings, so monthly payments don’t drastically increase as someone gets older. Private health insurance also comes with a guarantee from the government, so if anything were to happen, someone will still have coverage. With private health insurance, monthly payments can also be significantly lower than with public insurance. Costs are determined by factors such as your age, health, and occupation rather than your income.
There are a number of factors that go into determining if private health insurance makes sense for someone. If you’re young, single, healthy, and earning more than €65k, then we can say with a pretty high level of certainty that you would benefit from private health insurance.
After switching, you can expect more comprehensive coverage, lower monthly payments, shorter waiting times for doctor’s appointments, among other benefits.
If you have children, our rule of thumb is that it makes sense to get private if you plan on having three or fewer. Otherwise, it might get to be too expensive.
For people who have been through therapy for mental health reasons, for example, you’ll need to wait before getting on private health insurance because this would be considered a pre-existing condition.
If you only plan on staying in Germany for a few years, it also makes sense to be on private insurance because you’ll have overall better coverage with lower payments if you’re earning more than €65k.
Source Quora.com
