Contribution more than doubled
Pensioners should pay almost 700 euros a month for health insurance
01/22/2026 – 1:42 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
More and more privately insured people are asking the consumer advice center for advice because premiums have risen sharply. One case is particularly drastic.
Not only have numerous statutory health insurance companies increased their contributions for 2026, private health insurance companies (PKV) have also increased more since the turn of the year. As the Hamburg consumer advice center reports, the contributions for some privately insured people have even more than doubled. These sometimes extreme increases have significantly increased the demand for advice on private health insurance from consumer advocates in recent weeks.
“In the past few days we have advised several insured people whose private health insurance contributions have increased by more than 50 percent,” reports Anke Puzicha from the Hamburg consumer advice center. “Those affected then suddenly have to pay an additional three-digit amount per month for their health insurance coverage.” In a particularly serious case, a pensioner now had to pay 692.31 euros per month instead of the previous 316.35 euros – an increase of 119 percent. The consumer advice center registers such high premium jumps, particularly for older insured people.
In order to get a better overview of the scope and extent of the current premium increases, the Hamburg consumer advice center is asking affected privately insured people to provide copies of their letters of increase. These can be sent by email or post. The documents submitted should help to better classify the development of the contributions.
In contrast to the regularly discussed increases in statutory health insurance (GKV), the sometimes considerable increases in contributions to private health insurance often receive less attention from the public. But for many privately insured people, these increases mean a noticeable burden.
