Health Insurance

Health insurance is required by law in Germany(This one of the reasons why you are asked to show proof of health insurance during your application for visa or residence permit).
When you are a member of a private or statutory fund, you will be given a chip card containing your personal data which must be shown to the medical professionals when you want/need treatment.
There are some differences between the private and statutory insurance funds, this list shows only some of them. For detailed information, you should contact the providers.

Features	Insurance types
Cost	Private: Starts from approx 30€ per month Statutory: Starts from approx 100€ per month
Cover	Private: Reimbursement for the costs of treatment, illnesses, accidents, medications. Cover for treatments and their percentage differ from company to company. Statutory: The costs of treatment, illnesses, accidents, medications. Treatment costs are usually fixed.
Type of cost reimbursement	Private: Depends on the company. Usually the bill is taken from the healthcare provider and submitted to the company for the reimbursement. Statutory: Settles the bill directly with the healthcare provider. (Usually via your chip card)
Persons that cannot take insurance	Private: Often, people can only be insured up to a certain age limit. This varies depending on the provider and tariff and is checked when the application is made. Statutory: Students studying at language schools, university preparatory colleges or private universities and students who are over 30 years of age cannot obtain statutory insurance.
Limitations	Private: The costs of treatment for pre-existing conditions will not be reimbursed. Statutory: The costs of treatment for pre-existing conditions can be reimbursed

Your insurance contributions (between 8 and 9 % of your gross salary) are automatically deducted from your wages every month. You can choose between statutory and private insurance if you are earning more than a certain threshold*.
When you have chosen your insurer and applied to become a member of their scheme, you need to tell your employer (in this case, CISPA) as soon as possible, as the employer has to pass on the employee’s employment details to the insurer and to other social welfare institutions. For this, you can usually request a paper from the insurance company you chose called "Versicherungsbescheinigung".
In case of sickness, employers are obliged to pay wages for a maximum duration of 6 weeks.
Long-term nursing insurance contribution is equally deducted from your pay at source. All members of statutory or private health insurance funds are obliged to contribute.

ⓘ Insurance only covers the costs of treatment provided by registered doctors. Often, the costs of treatment by natural health professionals and alternative medicine practitioners are not reimbursed.