Public vs private health insurance in Germany, explained.

Insurance freedom starts at the end of the calendar year in which your salary passes the threshold, provided it is also expected to pass the following year’s higher threshold, projected near 84,500 EUR for 2027 (Sec. 6 (4) SGB V, final with the autumn ordinance). Only your regular salary counts, including a guaranteed bonus and a 13th month’s salary, but not overtime. Our net salary calculator shows where you sit.

Public cover is a share of your salary. 14.6 per cent by law plus your fund’s supplement, 2.9 per cent on average in 2026, split with your employer and charged up to 5,812.50 EUR a month. Your half therefore stops at 508.59 EUR a month for health cover, which is 6,103 EUR a year, or near 648 EUR a month once long-term care is added.

Private cover is priced on your risk. Age and health at signing and the cover you pick set the premium. A healthy 28-year-old typically pays 220 to 380 EUR a month after the employer’s half. Signing at 28 gives a lower premium than signing at 38, for the life of the contract.

Employees from 77,400 EUR of regular gross salary a year (2026). It takes effect at the end of the calendar year, and only if you are also expected to clear the next year’s higher line (Sec. 6 (4) SGB V). Self-employed and civil servants: any income.

For a young, healthy higher earner, usually yes. Public health cover caps at 508.59 EUR a month in 2026; a healthy 28-year-old often pays 220 to 380 EUR privately after the employer’s half, for wider cover. Run your own figure in the private health insurance calculator for Germany.

Under 55, three routes work: your salary drops back under 77,400 EUR, you take a role below the line, or you join a working spouse’s family cover. From 55 this is rarely possible for employees, so plan the switch as a long-term decision.

Everyone carries their own premium, and your employer’s subsidy covers co-insured children too. Newborns join a parent’s policy with no health questions if you register within two months of birth and one parent has held private cover for three months (Sec. 198 VVG).

It rises for a whole tariff at once, when that group’s medical costs cross a set threshold (Sec. 203 (2) VVG). Ageing reserves (Sec. 146 VAG) reduce the increases, and Sec. 204 VVG lets you switch to a cheaper equivalent tariff and keep the reserve.

You can keep the policy with an Anwartschaft while you are away. The small version preserves your health status, the large one also your entry age and reserves. Either way you return without new health questions.

Official 2026 figures. Versicherungspflichtgrenze 77,400 EUR a year (6,450 EUR a month) and contribution ceiling 69,750 EUR a year (5,812.50 EUR a month), both from the Sozialversicherungsrechengroessenverordnung 2026. General rate 14.6 per cent plus an average supplement of 2.9 per cent, long-term care 3.6 per cent plus 0.6 points without children (Federal Ministry of Health). Employer share capped at 508.59 EUR health, 104.63 EUR care.

Our own experience values. Private premiums of 220 to 380 EUR a month for a healthy 28-year-old. The 648 EUR against 185 EUR case, and the 5,556 EUR a year from it, come from our health cover calculator (9 September 2026: 32 years old, 100,000 EUR gross, employed, no children). Casework values, not a price list, binding no insurer.

Sec. 60 and Sec. 61 VVG. We advise on a balanced analysis of the market and our recommendation must fit your needs, not our commission. Everything here is general information; the personal recommendation follows in writing. Figures checked 10 September 2026.

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