Health insurance for foreigners in Germany

In which cases do you need private health insurance as a foreigner in Germany? And which of our private health insurance policies are recommended for which cases?

Private health insurance for stays of up to 2 years

If you want to come to Germany to visit family or friends, go on vacation, or for other private reasons, and your stay will not last longer than 6 months, we recommend our private health insurance Provisit Visum.

In case you want to stay in Germany for longer than 6 months and your stay has a private background, such as a longer visit to your family, or you want to work in Germany for a limited period of time, Provisit Germany is the right offer for you. Provisit Germany is a private health insurance for stays of up to 2 years.

Private health insurance for stays with an educational background

Provisit Educare24 is the ideal private health insurance if your stay in Germany is focused on some form of education or training, e.g. language school, exchange program, internship, college or university preparation. Please note: This does not include studying or working as a visiting scholar, doctoral candidate or scholarship holder.

We offer the private health insurance Provisit Student for your stay as an enrolled student in Germany. Provisit Student is particularly suitable for foreign students aged 30 and over. For foreign students under 30, we recommend DR-WALTER Public Health, a combination of private and statutory health insurance.

Visiting scientists, doctoral students or scholarship holders from abroad can insure themselves with Provisit Science, provided they have no pre-existing conditions or chronic illnesses. If this is the case, Grant Health Insurance is the right insurance for you, as it does not require a medical examination.

Yes, you can easily do that. Foreign guests and visitors often do not take out health insurance for their stay in Germany themselves, either due to language barriers or a lack of knowledge of the German health insurance system and the insurance market. 

In these cases, the au pair host family, relatives in Germany, or the host organization, such as the university, will take out the insurance for the foreign visitor. Of course, an adult must also conclude the insurance contract if children are to be insured.

The technical terms for this are "policyholder" and "insured person". The policyholder is the person who concludes and signs the insurance contract. This person may or may not be the same as the insured person: this is the person who is insured.

So do not be surprised if you are asked whether the "policyholder" and the "insured" are the same person when you take out insurance online. The reason for this is that in this way we enable our customers to take out health insurance by proxy for foreign guests and other persons.

Important to know: Usually, only the policyholder can change or terminate the contract prematurely, not the insured person. However, individual agreements can be made in this regard, which also allow the insured person to change the contract.

Insurance companies use "incoming" and "outgoing" to differentiate whether a health insurance policy is a policy for foreign guests who wish to enter the country from abroad or an insurance policy for people who intend to travel abroad. Where "abroad" usually refers to all countries except the one the insured person has their permanent residence.

As we are an insurance company based in Germany, we refer to all insurance policies that cover foreign guests in Germany as "incoming insurance". This includes, for example, au pairs, students from abroad and tourists to Germany. If a German citizen needs health insurance for their vacation or stay abroad, we refer to this as "outgoing insurance".

The following four main options are available to foreign guests when it comes to health insurance in Germany:

1. Existing health insurance in your home country

Ask your health insurance provider whether it also covers travel to Germany. If you come from a European country, this is usually the case. However, you should also find out about the restrictions on insurance cover abroad and, if necessary, take out travel health insurance for additional cover.

2. Travel health insurance

If you have no health insurance or none that is valid in Germany and your stay in Germany is only temporary, travel health insurance is the right choice. If you need a visa for your stay, make sure that your travel health insurance is recognized by the visa authorities.

We recommend Provisit Visum for stays in Germany of up to 180 days. For stays of up to 2 years, Provisit Germany is the right tariff. Of course, both insurance policies are recognized by all visa authorities. If there are any problems with your visa application, for whatever reason, you are guaranteed to get your money back without any additional fees.

3. Statutory health insurance

Some types of stays in Germany require comprehensive health insurance. Unlike travel health insurance, which provides temporary cover, comprehensive health insurance is designed to provide long-term health cover. This is why most German universities require proof of full health insurance for enrollment. Even for a full-time job, the foreign guest usually needs comprehensive health insurance.

There are two forms of comprehensive health insurance in Germany: statutory and private. Most people in Germany are members of a statutory health insurance fund. Of course, it depends on the individual case, but we generally recommend membership of a statutory health insurance if comprehensive health insurance is required.

4. Private comprehensive health insurance

Many guests from abroad cannot or do not wish to become a member of a German statutory health insurance fund, but still need comprehensive health insurance for their studies or their job. Private comprehensive health insurance is available for these cases.

We offer both the statutory health insurance DR-WALTER Public Health and the private comprehensive health insurance Provisit Student for students and Provisit Science for visiting scientists and scholarship holders.

Our Provisit insurances also offer you protection in case of corona infections if they occur newly and acutely after the start of the contract.  

If you are unable to start your stay abroad due to corona virus, it is possible to cancel the insurance or change your travel period before the start of the insurance. 

Answers to further questions can be found on our information page on the coronavirus. But we are also happy to help you personally: just contact us!

Private incoming health insurance, statutory health insurance, substitutive comprehensive health insurance - who is supposed to make sense of all these technical terms? It can all be confusing, especially for our foreign guests. Our insurance finder can help: It shows you what basic insurance options you have as a foreign visitor. Please note that our quick guide is not a substitute for personal, individual advice. If you have any questions, please use our service page or contact us.

The difference between travel health insurance and comprehensive health insurance lies in the general purpose of these health insurance policies. The main purpose of travel health insurance is to provide the traveler with basic insurance cover, such as immediate medical treatment in emergencies or repatriation. What travel health insurance does not usually cover are health maintenance measures and other non-urgent treatments such as dentures. 

Travel health insurance is intended as temporary protection for guests from abroad, while comprehensive health insurance is intended to cover both urgent and health-preserving measures to ensure the long-term health of the insured person. Comprehensive health insurance is therefore not intended for guests, but for people living in the country in question.

Statutory and private health insurance

Roughly speaking, travel health insurance is for guests from abroad, while comprehensive health insurance is for locals. Comprehensive health insurance is available as statutory and private health insurance. Most people in Germany are covered by statutory health insurance.

Statutory health insurance usually covers you not only in your home country, but also during your stay abroad. But only to a limited extent. The rule of thumb here is that statutory health insurance only pays what it would pay in your home country. This does not include repatriation to your home country, for example. This is why many people also take out travel health insurance in addition to statutory health insurance.

However, the purpose of the trip also plays a role in the selection process. As a rule, the following applies: For shorter stays, e.g. vacation trips or visits to relatives in Germany, travel health insurance is sufficient. For longer stays for academic purposes, e.g. to study or work as a visiting scholar, you are more likely to need comprehensive health insurance. Our insurance finder can help you with the selection.

Our PROVISIT international health insurance can now be found under the name Provisit Germany. Only the name has changed, price and quality have not. Provisit Germany is a private health insurance for foreign guests and visitors. It is ideal for family visits, extensions of stay, seasonal jobs and other stays with a maximum duration of 2 years. The great advantage of Provisit Germany is that it can be taken out for up to 12 months after entry. This makes it ideal as follow-up insurance. Learn more about Provisit Germany.

If you come from a country that has a social security agreement with Germany (the list of these countries can be found here (German)), chances are good that your home country health insurance will be recognized in Germany without any problems. However, you should check with your health insurance company before your stay in Germany.

There is one problem, however: statutory health insurance companies only pay for treatments and medications for which they would also pay in your home country, according to the cost rates set by law. This means:

1. If you need treatment or medication during your stay in Germany that is more expensive in Germany than in your home country, your health insurance will only pay the amount it has to pay according to the fixed cost rates in your home country. You will have to pay the rest of these costs yourself.

2. If you become ill or injured during your stay in Germany to such an extent that you need to be hospitalized, you may need medical repatriation to your home country. Your health insurance will not pay for this under any circumstances. You would have to pay for it out of your own pocket. Such a return transport can cost tens of thousands of euros.

Therefore we recommend: Even if your home country health insurance is recognized in Germany, it is best to take out additional international health insurance to be on the safe side.

In Germany, there are statutory health insurances ("gesetzliche Krankenkassen"). The word "statutory" refers to the obligation of these health insurances to ensure the health of their members through a catalog of benefits that is also regulated by the state.

Statutory health insurance in Germany works according to the solidarity principle. This means that everyone pays into one pot, which is used to pay for everyone's treatment. Regardless of whether someone needs health treatment more often than others or not, everyone pays the same contribution.

However, this also means that people who have left the statutory health insurance scheme in order to take out private health insurance, for example, usually cannot rejoin the statutory health insurance scheme because they have not paid into the common pot during the period in which they were not a member of the statutory health insurance scheme. 

Guests from abroad can join a German statutory health insurance under certain conditions, for example if they are studying or working in Germany. You can find out whether you can or should take out statutory or private health insurance with our quickguide.