Change to another private health insurance?
The change from one private health insurance to another can happen at any time. Depending on whether rates within an insurance company or the insurance itself are changed, there are deadlines and requirements that must be met. A change should be well considered, however, since in a new private health insurance also new contributions arise.
Since one is older at this point in time than when one first took out the original insurance, it is likely that the premiums will also be higher. The most common reason for a change is a rising contribution. Under these circumstances, it is possible to switch immediately to the start of the new contributions, provided that one is insured in another insurance company without a transition.
Since 2009, old-age provisions that were paid with the original health insurance can be transferred to another private insurance. This means that savings amounts already paid in can be transferred with almost no loss of money. If the change is to take place without a previous premium increase, this is only possible at the end of the calendar year with a notice period of three months.
There are various other possibilities to cancel the private insurance extraordinarily. A drop of the salary below the compulsory insurance limit is for example another possibility. Likewise, a claim to medical care as well as an entry into a statutory family insurance are considered reasons for a change before the end of the calendar year. In any case, the insured must ensure that he/she remains insured throughout.
What happens in old age?
The model of old-age provisions exists for the age of retirement and the time of retirement. Over the entire working life, a monthly savings amount is paid in to build up reserves. This should have the effect that the contributions do not increase after retirement but even decrease.
Whether the model actually works is not sufficiently known. Due to the demographic development of the last decades, it is not yet possible to predict a conclusive result. The health insurance companies claim that there are high amounts due to old-age provisions and thus it is achieved that the contributions of a 90-year-old compared to a 65-year-old currently tend to decrease.
Critics in politics argue that the demographic development will lead to a significant increase in the number of pensioners in private health insurance and that they will become older and older. Continuous and strongly rising contributions in the coming years will be the consequence. In the tendency the contributions in the private insurance rise more strongly than in the legal. After retirement, the employer’s contribution will also fall away. The employer pays a part of the contributions and after the employment relationship this subsidy is omitted.Upon application to the pensioners’ fund, the latter will take over part of it.
