Introduction
Health insurances are part of the statutory social security system and are mandatory for every German citizen within Germany. Every citizen must choose between private or statutory health insurance. The differences are great and the advantages and disadvantages must be weighed individually.
Differences to statutory health insurance
Every citizen who is not insured in a private insurance company receives a statutory health insurance. However, private health insurance is only available to employees with an annual income of over 56. 250€ (as of 2016), as well as self-employed persons and civil servants.
This also explains why privately insured citizens make up only about 10% in Germany. Most students and pensioners are also compulsorily insured by law. With the statutory insurance, the monthly contribution amount is calculated according to the solidarity principle.
Only the amount of the salary determines the contributions. The private health insurance proceeds according to the equivalence principle. The contribution is mainly composed of the personal risk factors for diseases such as age or potential pre-existing conditions, but also according to the desired insurance benefits.
The main disadvantages of private health insurance result from the equivalence principle. Persons with existing pre-illnesses and advanced age must count on high contributions, which does not play a role with the legal insurance. In some cases even the admission into the insurance can be refused, if high health risks become apparent.
Likewise the contributions rise constantly in the age. Also without health reasons the offerer can increase the contributions without reason. A change of the offerer is then possible.
A large disadvantage here is however that a change to a legal health insurance is more difficult. Only under certain conditions the legal insurance can take up a privately insured person again, after he decided before for the private one. For privately insured persons, one of the main advantages is the range of services offered to those with statutory health insurance.
Privately insured persons often receive more expensive services, shorter waiting times, advantages in practices and hospitals, as well as the free choice of doctor and treatment by chief physicians and alternative practitioners. However, the entry fees of private health insurance can still be very low. They may be lower than equivalent contributions of a statutory insurance. Additional services can be booked against co-payments. For above-average earners, private health insurance provides an incentive for the contribution sum not to be based on income.
