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Health insurance companies in comparison: is it worth changing?

The additional contributions from health insurance companies make a big difference in the wallets of insured people. It’s worth making a comparison at the end of the year.

How high the health insurance contributions are for those with statutory health insurance depends on two factors. On the one hand, there is the general contribution rate, which is currently 14.60 percent – and is the same from fund to fund. And on the other hand, there is the so-called additional contribution, which the health insurance companies determine individually. With a clever choice of health insurance fund, you can save up to 342 euros with a gross monthly income of 3,000 euros, according to the magazine “Finanztest” (issue 1/2025) in its current health insurance comparison.

The currently most expensive health insurance funds (Bahn-BKK, BKK Gildemeister Seidensticker: 18.0 percent) are separated by 2.5 percentage points from the currently cheapest (BKK Firmus: 15.50 percent). Employees share the contributions with their employer.

According to experts, additional contributions for some health insurance funds could rise further next year. Because the health insurance companies regularly decide on additional contributions in December, consumers should carefully check any letters from their health insurance company for an announced increase.

Because: If the health insurance company increases the contribution rate, insured persons can make use of their special right of termination. If this is not the case, a change is only possible after twelve months of membership.

According to “Finanztest”, the application to the receiving health insurance company is sufficient to get out of the current one. A separate termination is not necessary for this. The new fund then contacts the previous one and informs the insured person when their membership begins. Once everything has been done, the employer should be informed of the change.

However, the examiners recommend not to be hasty when switching health insurance companies and, above all, not to just look at the financial advantages. Those with statutory health insurance should also check to what extent extra services, service and accessibility of the health insurance companies differ. These are also important factors when selecting the cash register.