As a rule, all employees who take up employment in Germany are subject to the German social security system, including the German health insurance system. This means that social security contributions are paid for every employee’s wages, which include pension insurance (Rentenversicherung), health insurance (Krankenversicherung), care insurance (Pflegeversicherung), unemployment insurance (Arbeitslosenversicherung) and accident insurance (Unfallversicherung). According to EU law, you can only be subject to one social security legislation at a time, so it is important to remember that once you have taken up employment in Germany, other insurance institutions will no longer be competent for you as a foreign national.
If you work in Germany, you are subject to compulsory social insurance and therefore covered:• health insurance (Krankenversicherung) – which covers the costs of medical appointments, medicines and treatment
What do I have to consider when choosing a health insurance?
If you are an employee, then you are free to choose your health insurance company. In most cases employees prefer a private health insurance (PKV), because the contributions are lower in comparison and the benefits are better at the same time. This is because contributions to the Public Health Insurance (GKV) system are based on income. This can be very expensive for successful entrepreneurs. The situation is different with private health insurance. Here the contributions are based on the risk assessment for the insured person. However, it should be borne in mind that you cannot simply switch from private health insurance to statutory health insurance again. The other way around, it is easier.
The PKV for employees offers many advantages over the GKV
When we come to the insureance for empolyees, Private Health Insurance (PKV für Angestellte) is often the first choice. Here you can control the contributions yourself. Depending on which additional services are desired and booked, the contribution can be cheaper or even more expensive. However, many people do not know what is important for employees in private health insurance. Before simply concluding an insured person’s contract, a few things should be considered.
PKV for employees – a checklist
Anyone who does not sufficiently deal with the subject matter could make mistakes when concluding a contract. It is not only the services of the health insurance company that are decisive. In the case of PHI for employees, much more needs to be taken into account. Here are a few points that are very important. How high is the health risk? This results in the choice of tariff.
Control the contributions yourself
Those who are often ill should choose the basic PKV tariff for employees. Because then the contribution will be much cheaper. However, the benefits are no better than in the GKV.
If the medical history is manageable, extra tariffs are worth it. Here you can negotiate extra services such as single rooms in the hospital, free choice of doctor/chef doctor treatment, daily sick pay and many other benefits.
The contribution can also be reduced by increasing the deductible. However, this only makes sense if you are young and healthy. Otherwise, you don’t need to worry about it and should leave out the excess.
Loss of earnings due to accidents or illness
The coverage for loss of earnings should be high at all costs. This is because private health insurance for employees does not automatically provide sickness benefit. The continued payment of wages by the employer is also logically omitted in the first 6 weeks. With private health insurance for employees, it is possible to make a flexible agreement on sickness benefit payment. The amount can also be negotiated. In the event of unemployment, the private health insurance for employee must be retained. Since you still have to pay the contributions yourself, you should switch to the basic tariff in this case.
Unemployment insurance
Anyone who has paid attention here has also taken out insurance against unemployment in the private health insurance system for employees. In this case you can apply for a subsidy from the employment agency when you receive the dole. This saves a lot of contributions. There is also an emergency tariff with each PKV, which guarantees a medical emergency supply. This can be helpful during a long dry spell. A change into the GKV is only again possible with re-entry into an employee occupation up to the 55th year of life. But only if the earnings are below the annual salary limit.