The health insurance system in Germany can be confusing, especially for students who are moving to Germany for the first time from abroad. Here are some general information regarding health insurance, and how it works.
Germany’s health insurance is based on a universal multi-payer system, which consists of the statutory (public) health insurance (“Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung”), and private health insurance (“Private Krankenversicherung”).
Key benefits of German public health insurance:
Full coverage regardless of the treatment cost for procedures that are deemed medically necessary (usually also includes dental work)
Family members (only children or spouse) are co-insured free of contributions
Doctors balance their accounts directly with the health insurance fund – there is no need for cash payments and then claiming the money back
The contribution for students is almost the same in the German public insurance by the different providers and the rate amounts to around 100 Euros per month
German law requires students from non-EU, EEA, Switzerland, and contract countries who are enrolled at a higher education institution in Germany to have public health insurance. This is also generally one of the required documents as part of the visa application process for students who need a German visa. Pre-sign up is possible through our insurance partners that are present on campus (more below).
For students who are citizens of the EU (Cyprus – only the EU part of the country), EEA, Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Turkey and Tunisia, German public health insurance is not necessary if they hold a European health insurance card (EHIC), or have the insurance form (in the local language and German) from their home countries. It is possible to switch between the German public health insurance and their countries’ health insurance.
It is also required for students to have German public insurance in order to be able to take up a part-time job or a paid internship in Germany, regardless of their nationalities.
Our Insurance Partners
We have two different German public health insurance providers on campus – Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), and AOK Bremen/Bremerhaven.
More details and application forms are here: https://www.jacobs-university.de/student-records/non-academic-services/health-insurance
By Sharon Min (Myanmar) | Class of 2016
