Insurances

The topic of insurance while studying can sometimes be quite unsettling! Therefore, you will get an overview and important information here. If you need further information or have questions, please contact our social counselling.

Health Insurance

Students must provide evidence of health insurance cover on matriculation. There are various options for insurance.

Student health insurance is a mandatory insurance. Alternatives are family insurance under statutory health insurance, insurance due to orphan’s allowance status or civil service legal assistance. 

 

With student health insurance there is an age limit of 30 years. During a semester on leave, student health insurance is maintained so long as it is not “supplanted” by another type of insurance. 

An extension of the age limit is only possible if the type of training or family or personal reasons justify this. Examples are: 

  • Gaining of access by second-chance education 
  • Raising children 
  • Voluntary service or 
  • Illness 

 

Membership of the student health insurance ends one month after the end of the semester for which the student was last registered. This is also the case if students ex-matriculate during the semester. 

Students under 25 years old can be included in their parents’ statutory insurance in Germany under family insurance. The advantage of this form of insurance is that there is no liability for contributions for the student. 

It should be noted that the income of the student must not exceed 505 euros or, in the case of a mini-job, 538 euros per month (as of 2024). An extension of the age limit due to time spent in civil or military service is possible, for a maximum of 12 months. This also applies to voluntary service. 

There is no age limit for the marriage or civil law partner with family insurance. For children with disabilities the age limit also does not apply. The income limit does, however, apply in these cases as well. 

 

Family insurance cover ends immediately on ex-matriculation, since the educational status is a requirement for the inclusion of adult children. There is another sub-regulation for children under 23 years old and not in employment (§ 10 para. 2 No. 2 SGB V), which can be applied.

Recipients of orphan allowance are generally independent members of statutory health insurance. This appears on the pension approval certificate. This health insurance, however, ends on the 25th birthday and further student or private health insurance is required. 

State assistance in the form of health insurance for civil servants covers a part of the costs for treatments. The remaining sum must be covered by private health insurance. There are also family provisions as part of the state assistance.

These regulations are accorded if the parents receive child benefit for their child in education. If the child benefit ceases, independent private health insurance must continue, since the exemption from mandatory statutory insurance which occurred at the beginning of the degree cannot be cancelled.

After the ending of the mandatory student insurance, voluntary statutory insurance is available, so long as there are corresponding preceding periods of insurance as part of the statutory health insurance. The application for voluntary insurance must occur within three months of the ending of the mandatory insurance.

Students who are not eligible for statutory health insurance can take out private health insurance. Here a price-performance comparison between insurers should be made, since the rates vary greatly. Neutral advice on private health insurance is offered by the Consumer Advice Centre in Baden-Württemberg. The consultation fees for students are not too high. You can find the info on the Consumer Advice Centre here (in German) www.verbraucherzentrale-bawue.de/beratung 

International students might have their statutory health insurance from their home-country approved by a statutory German health insurance company. This opportunity applies especially to students from EU countries or the European Economic Area. It should be clarified in the home-country which documents are required for this. 

It may be, however, that the health insurance in your home-country does not cover all costs in Germany. International students should therefore clarify which services are covered in Germany by their health insurance company before travelling. 

It should be noted that the statutory health insurance of the home country may no longer be recognised as soon as students start employment, an internship or self-employment. If you start a mini-job, a working student activity or an internship while you are studying, you should report this employment yourself to your insurance/health fund in your country of origin and ask for a certificate stating that the insurance will continue despite your additional income. Submit this certificate to the German health insurance fund which issued the German health card for the provision of benefits via the EHIC.

If the German health insurance company does not accept this certificate, then the German social insurance law will be applied and you must insure yourself in the statutory (student or voluntary) health insurance.

Since this goes hand in hand with an obligation to pay contributions, we recommend that you contact our social counselling service for advice. You may have to lodge an appeal against the health insurance company's decision.

Private health insurance from other countries may also be approved in Germany. International students should seek advice directly from their health insurance companies. If the private insurance is approved, a confirmation must be provided on matriculation at the university that the student has been exempted from mandatory statutory health insurance. For the duration of the course it is then no longer possible to change to statutory health insurance.

Compulsory insurance for international students in online-only study formats without entry to Germany

Students from third countries, i.e. from countries outside the EU or the European Economic Area, who participate in purely virtual courses of study and do not enter the country  are exempt from the obligation to be insured by the statutory health insurance scheme.

They can be enrolled as regular students with the status "not subject to compulsory insurance". Please note that according to current information, the obligation to have health insurance will apply upon the student's later entry into Germany. If certain conditions are met, students only have to pay the health and nursing care insurance contributions that arise after entry. This means that students do not have to pay contributions for the entire semester or part thereof. This must be applied for and the health insurance company decides at its own discretion.

Statutory accident insurance

Students are protected by statutory accident insurance during the period of their university education. This insurance protection does not have full application but is subject to specific requirements: 

  • The student must attend the university with serious intent to participate in education. Matriculation alone or occasional attendance at individual lectures is not adequate. 
  • In the judgement of this matter it is likewise decisive whether the activities can be attributed to the organisational field of responsibility of the university. There must exist, so to speak, an essential internal coherence between the university curriculum and the activities of the student.   
  • Participation in semesters abroad is covered by statutory accident insurance if this is a component of the domestic university degree and attributable formally, organisationally and in content to the course. The precondition for this is that the university in Germany must in practical terms have the right of instruction or control to some extent. This can for example be exercised by the university’s own staff at a partner university or through the appointment of a person at the foreign university. 
  • Examples of insured activities are attendance of lectures and events in the organisational field of responsibility of the university, activities in student self-administration and journeys immediately related to attending the university. 

Non-insured activities are, for example, studying at home, private study trips, private activities on campus or private activities such as eating or drinking. 

Students in Baden-Württemberg are insured with the accident insurance firm Unfallkasse Baden-Württemberg. The respective university is responsible for the insurance. Therefore, after an accident, contact the study secretariat of your university directly.

 

Statutory accident insurance for internships

The statutory accident insurance for internships is regulated differently, irrespective of whether the internship is compulsory for your studies or examination regulations or voluntarily.

In the case of an internship, there is usually no direct influence of the university on the way in which it is carried out and on the course of the internship. Responsible for the statutory accident insurance of the student is therefore the professional association or accident insurance in which the internship company is a member. The company pays the cost of the insurance protection with its contribution to the accident insurance.

Note

If you have further questions on this topic, you can turn to our social advice!