Health insurance for foreign postdocs in Germany

Every person living in Germany (that means: staying in Germany for a longer period of time) must have health insurance. In Germany, there is statutory health insurance, which is often called "public health insurance" in other countries, and private health insurance.

For you as a postdoc, this means: Either you belong to those persons who have to take out statutory health insurance, or you have the choice between statutory and private health insurance. Which group do you belong to?

The crucial question is: What is your employment or income situation? If you have an employee contract as a postdoc at your German university and earn no more than 5,362.50 euros per month (as of 2022), you must take out statutory insurance.

If you are employed by the university and earn more than 5,362.50 euros per month (as of 2022), you can choose between statutory and private health insurance. Same goes if you are a civil servant, student, self-employed or freelancer.

It is particularly important for you to know: If you are a postdoc in the context of a scholarship, you usually can also choose between statutory and private health insurance, because money that you receive from the sponsor of a scholarship is not considered wages in Germany. Therefore, you are not an employee in the legal sense and thus can choose.

If you decide to take out private health insurance, we recommend our comprehensive health insurance Provisit Science. We have developed it especially for academics from abroad.

Provisit Science is a "substitutive, private comprehensive health insurance". This means: Provisit Science is guaranteed to be recognized by all authorities and universities. And in addition to many other advantages over other health insurances, Provisit Science is particularly favorable for postdocs with a scholarship.