Are you dissatisfied with your statutory health insurance? Then it’s time to think about a change. A guide for changing your health insurance fund.
You are spoiled for choice: In Germany there are currently around 100 statutory health insurance companies, which differ from one another – both in terms of costs, services and the so-called optional tariffs. But when and how can I change my health insurance company? t-online answers the most important questions about changing health insurance companies.
In principle, a change is always possible if you have been insured with a health insurance company for at least twelve months. The regular notice period is then two full months to the end of the month. The deadline begins as soon as your new health insurance company has informed your old one about the change (more on this below). For example, if this happens on December 15th, you will be insured with the new health insurance company from March 1st.
Attention: If you have decided on an optional tariff, the commitment period may be longer than twelve months. An optional tariff can, for example, be the so-called family doctor model, in which you always have to contact your family doctor first if you have health problems instead of going directly to a specialist. Health insurance companies reward this with bonuses or the elimination of additional payments. Optional tariffs usually have their own minimum terms.
However, there is still the possibility of extraordinary termination. You always have this special right of termination if your health insurance company increases the additional contribution. A twelve-month minimum membership is not necessary. Most optional tariffs can also be canceled extraordinarily in the event of a premium increase. The only exception: the optional sick pay tariff.
Important: The special right of termination only applies until the end of the month in which the fund charges the increased contribution for the first time. As with ordinary termination, the notice period is two months. You will have to pay the higher additional contribution until then.
Under certain circumstances, you can change your health insurance company without canceling your contract – from one day to the next. This is then called cash register voting rights. You are always entitled to this if something changes to your insurance relationship.
This is the case, for example, if you change employer or if your salary exceeds or falls below the so-called annual salary limit, i.e. you go from being a compulsory member to a voluntary member of the statutory health insurance company or vice versa. Even those who were previously employed and become self-employed have the right to choose their health insurance provider.
The same applies if you were previously insured by your family and now have to insure yourself, for example because you are starting your own job. But even if you become unemployed and receive unemployment benefit, you can change your health insurance provider with immediate effect.
If your insurance relationship changes, you then have 14 days to make use of your right to choose a health insurance provider. If you don’t do this, you will remain insured with your current health insurance company.
You can change your statutory health insurance provider as often as one of the above points applies to you. As a rule, a change is possible every twelve months. But you can also change health insurance if the additional premium increases or if your insurance relationship changes. There is no general limit.
It is now very easy for insured people to change their statutory health insurance provider. Since 2021, you have been able to save yourself a letter of cancellation to your old fund. Instead, you just register with your new insurance company and the insurers take care of everything else between themselves.
You can usually fill out the membership application for the new fund directly online on the website. Once you have submitted the online application, the old health insurance company will check whether you meet all the requirements for a change and will confirm the cancellation electronically with your new health insurance company within 14 days. This will then inform you that the change has been completed.
Good to know: You no longer have to present your employer with a membership certificate from the new health insurance company. He receives this automatically and digitally from the cash register itself.
