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Private health insurance: Who can change and what it costs
07/31/2025 – 2:07 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
In Germany, private health insurance is possible instead of the statutory. However, this does not apply to all professional groups. An overview.
Every health system must be insured in the German health system. Most employees are automatically insured by law. However, some insured persons have the choice between a statutory (GKV) and private health insurance (PKV). A lot works differently for private health insurance than with the statutory.
T-online shows how private health insurance works, who can use it and how much it costs.
The doctors are honored according to the fee schedule and not as in the SHI according to a uniform scale. Privately health -insured persons pay all medicinal bills directly and then submit the invoices to reimbursement of their insurance. The performance catalog is individually agreed and is not legally defined.
A change from the statutory to private health insurance is only possible for people who are not subject to compulsory insurance in statutory health insurance. The following groups of people can choose whether to prefer private or statutory health insurance:
Often it is not possible to switch back to statutory health insurance.
The insurance companies themselves decide which tariffs they offer on which conditions and which benefits derive from them. The premium height in PKV depends on the scope of the agreed services and the individual disease risk. That is the equivalence principle. For young, healthy people, private health insurance is therefore very tempting.
In 2024, the monthly average contribution for the PKV is 256 euros – although there are large individual differences, for example between civil servants and the self -employed. If you consider a change to the PKV, however, keep in mind that the older you get.
