Social Security and Insurance

Germany offers a wide range of insurance options. Some, like health insurance, are mandatory by law, while others are optional and depend on how much risk you’re willing to take on yourself or whether you prefer to protect yourself against potential losses.. The first major difference to understand is the one between social insurance (Sozialversicherung) and private insurance (private Versicherung).

Social insurance (called social security in some countries) is required by law. As an alternative, there are also private insurance schemes available for many of these areas, particularly health care, pensions and accident and long-term nursing. It is worth considering taking out private insurance in one of these areas or even a supplement to the statutory coverage if:

• You have no statutory coverage (e.g., grant holders)
• You would like to have coverage that goes beyond the level offered by the statutory insurance (e.g., private health insurance vs. statutory health insurance)

Whether you have to make social insurance payments depends on your personal status.  If you are a regular employee, you are required to contribute to social insurance. Grant holders, short-term employees, and certain interns are generally exempt.

Here is a quick overview on social insurance funds:

1. Health insurance and long-term nursing insurance
2. Statutory pension scheme
3. Statutory accident insurance (accidents at work)
4. Unemployment insurance

If you have never worked with social security, your social security number will be requested by your employer (CISPA) when you receive your first payslip. You will then find the social security number on every payslip; it is usually indicated under the abbreviation “SV Nummer.”