80 percent of Germans are not insured

Many Germans are unprotected

It affects one in four people – but hardly anyone is protected

Burnout instead of an accident: occupational disability affects completely different people today than many people think. Why the state hardly helps and what you have to pay attention to when choosing a BU.

Germany is considered the insurance world champion and at the same time is underinsured. Around 80 percent of adults do not have occupational disability insurance, although statistically one in four employed people becomes unable to work during their working life. “The Germans insure the replaceable, but not the irreplaceable,” says Tobias Bierl, independent insurance broker and BU expert.

When many people think of occupational disability, they think of serious accidents or physically hard work. But the reality looks different. And anyone who believes that the state will help in an emergency is often very much mistaken. So what is really important and how do you protect yourself so that the BU also pays later?

According to the General Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV), Germans spend more than 2,000 euros per capita on insurance every year. Millions of households have cell phone, glasses or travel cancellation insurance and together often pay several hundred euros a year for risks that are annoying but rarely threaten their existence.

However, the most important protection is missing in four out of five households, as a current GDV study shows. The risk is real: at 38 percent, mental illnesses are now the most common cause of occupational disability, ahead of musculoskeletal system diseases and cancer. Accidents only account for around eight percent.

“The image of the roofer falling from the scaffolding is outdated,” explains Bierl. “Today there are project managers with burnout, teachers with depression, nursing staff with chronic exhaustion.”

Anyone born after January 1, 1961 is not entitled to state occupational disability pension. This included special occupational protection: the decisive factor was whether those affected could no longer practice the profession they had learned or most recently practiced for health reasons – not whether they could generally pursue any other activity on the general labor market.

“Many people only realize in an emergency that the state won’t come to their aid,” says Bierl. But then it is often too late. According to Bierl, good occupational disability insurance can only be taken out as long as you are healthy. “With every diagnosis and every visit to the doctor, the risk of only being insured with exclusions or risk surcharges increases. Or not at all,” warns the expert. “Time always works against the insured, never for him.”