Hi
I am alone at the moment so I am having private insurance. within next few months i will be getting married and then would prefer to change to publich health insurance. Are there any pre-requisits..or in other words how should i proceed to go back to publich insurance with my wife?

There are only two ways to do that

1. Be arbeitlos... convert to public...continue with public in new job ( dont think u want to be in that position)

2. Decrease you salary so that u are not eligible to continue in private( also not a good option)

3. If u were never in public insurance from the start in germany then you may shift to public ( only heard about it but not sure)

Other than these three i cant think of a way for changing to public

"2. Decrease you salary so that u are not eligible to continue in private( also not a good option)"

you are always eligible to continue in private unless you want to become social aid ;)


Secret way ;)

DO NOT PAY ANYTHING TO YOUR PRIVATE INSURANCE

DO NOT REACT ON THEIR LETTERS

max. 6 months - your contract will be cancelled by them and you get a perfect possibility to switch to a public insurance

Costs:
-------
1. around 10-14 EUR Mahnkosten if you are a good guy and will agree to pay those;
2. nothing if you are a bad guy that knows the laws. They have no chance to get those 10-14 EUR through a court of law then;
3. if you are completely bad guy and do not want to pay your contributions that were due even after your contract was cancelled, costs will be dependent on the time that will be required to convince you that you are not right.


By my nature i would choose a 1st variant, although it would cost me 10-14 EUR ... and after my contract gets cancelled, would pay the contributions that accordingly to the contract i had to pay before ...

"DO NOT REACT ON THEIR LETTERS"

Additions:
----------
this will work 100% without additional costs NOW.

in 1-2 years, if lots of people will use this secret way, the situation can change *lol*

hello,
continuing this topic ... just tell me ..if husband and wife are working ..husband has private insurance and wife -public insurance ... and if they have a child ..who is paying for the kid ?? and which is that private/public.

i always wanted to know this.

For private health insurance, husband has to include in the child into his insurance and pay for the child insurance.
For public health insurance, mother has to inform her public insurance to include the child and pay nothing extra.

Depends which insurance you choose for the child.

>>continuing this topic ... just tell me ..if husband and wife are working ..husband has private insurance and wife -public insurance ... and if they have a child ..who is paying for the kid ?? and which is that private/public.<<

funny question! I think the mother and father should discuss and decide so that at the end only one of them pays. Public insurance is always better for the kid for several good reasons .. any doubt?

One short question regarding this topic which I couldnt find in any of the last discussions.
If the husband is working and having privat insurance, and wife is not working, is it possible to choose public insurance for the wife? If she has already choosen privat insurance, is it possible to switch to public insurance? Thanks for any responses.

<quote>
husband has private insurance and wife -public insurance ... and if they have a child ..who is paying for the kid ?? and which is that private/public.
</quote>

Well, when I changed to private insurance several years ago, I was told I must insure the kid with me - the so called "Family insurance" (dependants being insured at no extra cost) is only applicable if none of the parents is insured privately.
I didn't care much about that then, because I paid slightly less for the private insurance for both of us as I did before for the public insurance. And then the second child was born... So now my wife is still with the public insurance, and I and the kids are privately insured. The whole family spends more on health insurance this way than if we were all with the public insurance. But such is life, I guess... no free lunch.

Is there actually any valid reason to change from Govt to Private insurance other than that you might get a single room in hospitals? And of course you pay for that in advance. As you said, there is no free lunch !!

Regarding treatment by Chefarzt, I have heard that it is possible that you ask to be operated by the Head-doctor, even if you have govt. insurance!

Well, getting a single room in a hospital, or Chefarzt treatment is not an inherent property of the private insurance... These and many other 'goodies' are extras you decide upon. And of course they influence the price you pay. I, for example, didn't buy single room or Chefarzt treatment, but I bought some others, like 80% reimbursement on orthodontics for example.
So these are not the things that greatly distingush private insurance from public, in spite of what TV ads say.

The big differentiators are (in my humble opinion):
1. If you are single, it is much cheaper, even if you buy some sensible extras.
2. You get more dental services completely or proportionally reimbursed: in public insurance, you usually have caps on things like Zahnersatz (Kronnen, Brücken, etc.), while in private you get a percentage reimbursed (100% for some things, 80% of others, again depending on the contract).
3. Depending on the insurer, your health insurance might be valid world-wide (including USA). Mine is.
4. Presumably, the doctors treat you better (and you waste less time in the waiting room), because they get more monney if you are privately insured. I cannot confirm this, however - I have the impression that my wife and I are treated equally (good).
5. You don't have to pay the €10 per quarter.
6. Depending on the contract, you may even get some money back, if you don't go to the doctor's too often.

In summary, with private insurance everything is negotiable, whereas with the public insurance the benefits you get are fixed in the law.

Cheers,
Flado

@flado:

Quite valid points.

1. The constraint is the min salary-limit, whereas public is open-to-all

2. Thats really good.

3. A world-wide travel insurance is not costly, with allianz offering for 8 euro/year.

4. No comments

5. :-)

6. Incentives are good. But on the other hand, doesnt it discourage you to go to the doc?

DO NOT PAY ANYTHING TO YOUR PRIVATE INSURANCE

DO NOT REACT ON THEIR LETTERS

max. 6 months - your contract will be cancelled by them and you get a perfect possibility to switch to a public insurance

Dear-,
Do you think people are idiots here.

Your suggestion is wrong(i wish it was true).

As sson as you cancel your priv. insurance and go to govt. one, they will ask you to abour the previous insurances in last months and then if you inform them (you cant hide it, can you?)about the priv. insurance then they will tell you the follwing*one time in priv. insurance it is not possible to come back (unless you arte not eligible according to your income.)

so please do not force this poor man to cancel his priv. insurance in this funny manner.

PS: You can alway cancel your priv. insurance by giveng a notice at the end of the year(or as per your contract.)

Please tell us some other way .

@fred:

<quote>
1. The constraint is the min salary-limit, whereas public is open-to-all

3. A world-wide travel insurance is not costly, with allianz offering for 8 euro/year.

6. Incentives are good. But on the other hand, doesnt it discourage you to go to the doc?
</quote>

1. True. And a really funny thing - you must earn more in order to be eligible to pay less...

3. Well, travel insurance is not the same as international health insurance. I'm not sayng either is better than the other - they are just different. Travel insurance, for example, covers cancellation fees for plane tickets, while health insurance covers no such things. On the other hand, in order for your travel insurance to cover your medical costs abroad, you have to have an accident or an acute illness, and only until you are physically fit to return to your country of residence - with health insurance, you can DECIDE to go abroad with the specific purpose of getting medical treatment.
Most travel insurance policies are valid for one year, BUT only cover a limited time spent abroad within that year - some cover 30 days, some 60, some are restricted to one trip only. I don't know Allianz's exact conditions, although I bought their travel insurance for my wife last year.

6. Hm. I doubt that anyone sensible would put their health at a serious risk just to get a few Euros back from their insurer. And if you consider the €10/doctor/quarter fee - wouldn't that discourage you to go to the doctor's more? The point is, you have the option to profit a bit from your good health, so it is more of an incentive to stay in good health. Anyway, I didn't buy that option, so I don't have any real experience with it.
And even if you don't buy that option and you did use your insurance, you still get some (little) money back as a result of profit sharing. Try that with a public insurer ;-)

I guess the main difference is, the privately owned health insurers are on the free (albeit heavily regulated) market, so their aim is to maximise profit and minimise cost, which cannot be said for the public insurers. You figure out the resulting differences in quality :-)

Nice talking to you, Fred. Have a nice day.

@flado:

I am sorry, I didnt mean to say "travel-insurance", but "Overseas medical insurance" or Reisekrankenversicherung which is valid worldwide for stays upto 6 weeks at a stretch. It costs 8 Euro p.a for a single person, and 14 euro for a family.

@flado:

What you get back I wouldn't call such a small amount, first year I got back 500, second year - 800, and this year I should get more than 1000 euro back from insurance - so it's better for me to pay my bills myself because what I get back is more than enough to cover my bills. Of course in case I'd need to go to hospital I'd use insurance and wouldn't pay myself.

Old topic but maybe somebody has new information - if one never had public insurance - is it possible to change from private to public (without becoming unemployed or working for the less amount of money) ?

I am the real havehope '' Dear detlef how is it possible that this guy is using my login name

Dear detlef please ignore my message .I didnot see the the date it waas 2 years ago and it was me who posted this message. so do not bother

hello all

As i am in private insurance, I get some money at the end of year if i dont show any bills.

Do i need to put that money in my tax decleration.

Regards
Baiju

Is public health insurance in germany any good? Or would you recommend a private health care plan. Im wondering how the services compare, and what you get for your money.