A private health insurance quote in Germany is a monthly price attached to a long list of choices: tariff level, deductible, optional add-ons, a health assessment and sometimes a surcharge. To read it properly, you need to know which lines set the price, which lines set what is actually covered, and which numbers can still move before you sign. This guide walks through all three, in the order the quote itself presents them.
TL;DR
- You can choose private health insurance as an employee if your gross income is above 77,400 euros a year in 2026. Self-employed people and civil servants can choose regardless of income.
- A quote is only an estimate until the insurer has reviewed your health questionnaire. Surcharges, exclusions or a rejection can still follow.
- Compare coverage first and price second. A missing benefit usually cannot be added later without a new health assessment.
- Premiums are not tied to income and tend to rise over time, so check the quote against your plans for the next ten years, not just next month.
- Private insurance is paid by reimbursement: you typically pay the doctor first and claim the money back.
Table of Contents
- Who can actually get a private quote?
- What a quote contains, line by line
- How the premium is built
- The health assessment: where estimates change
- Check what is missing, not just what is there
- Private versus public: what the quote leaves out
- Look past the first-year price
- A five-step routine for reading any quote
- Where the final premium can differ from the estimate
- Perspective: what we see in quotes every week
- Get a quote reviewed in English
- FAQ
- Sources
Who can actually get a private quote?
Before you read any quote, check that you are allowed to take one up. In Germany, employees can opt for private health insurance when their gross annual income exceeds 77,400 euros in 2026, or 6,450 euros per month. The threshold is reviewed every year, so confirm the current figure before you apply.
Other groups follow different rules. Self-employed people and civil servants (Beamte) can choose private cover regardless of income. Students and families have their own routes, which we cover on our pages for private health insurance for students and private health insurance for families.
If you are new to Germany and still unsure whether private or public cover suits you, our guide to health insurance for internationals explains the basics first.
What a quote contains, line by line
Quotes look different from insurer to insurer, but almost all of them contain the same building blocks. As a worked illustration, one large insurer publishes an example in which the monthly contribution is made up of a main health tariff, a separate dental tariff, daily sickness allowance for employees from week seven, and a statutory surcharge. That is a typical shape: several modules added together into one monthly total.
Here is what each part means.
| Line on the quote | What it means | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Main health tariff | Covers outpatient care, hospital stays and prescriptions at a chosen level | Hospital room type, choice of doctor, whether psychotherapy and aids are included |
| Dental tariff | Covers dental treatment, prosthetics and orthodontics, often separate | Reimbursement percentages and annual caps |
| Deductible (Selbstbeteiligung) | The part of your bills you pay yourself | Annual amount, per-bill percentage, or limited to certain areas |
| Daily sickness allowance (Krankentagegeld) | Replaces income after long illness | Start date (usually after the employer stops paying) and daily amount |
| Statutory long-term care insurance (Pflegepflichtversicherung) | Mandatory long-term care cover | Included in the total |
| Surcharge (Risikozuschlag) | Extra cost for health risks the insurer has identified | Amount, duration, and whether it can be reviewed |
| Exclusions (Leistungsausschluss) | Conditions or treatments not covered | Exactly which diagnoses, and for how long |
If any line is unclear, ask for it in writing before you decide. A good adviser can explain every row in plain English.
How the premium is built
Private premiums are calculated from your own risk, not your salary. Insurers look at your age at entry, your health, the tariff level you chose and the deductible. That is why two colleagues earning the same amount can receive very different quotes.
The deductible is the lever most people notice first. Deductibles in German private insurance can be a fixed annual amount, a percentage of each bill, or limited to specific areas such as dental care. A higher deductible lowers the monthly premium, but it only pays off if you stay healthy enough to avoid hitting it. Mental health is a good test case: work out how a therapy deductible would apply across a typical course of sessions before you accept a low premium.
The second lever is the tariff level. Basic tariffs cost less but may limit hospital comfort, choice of specialist or reimbursement above standard fee rates. Premium tariffs cover more and cost more. Neither is wrong; the right one is the one that matches what you expect to use.
Employees and the employer subsidy
If you are an employed person, your employer normally contributes to your private insurance, similar to the way they split contributions in the public system. The subsidy is capped, so ask your employer or adviser how much applies to your situation and make sure you compare the quote net of the subsidy, not gross.
The health assessment: where estimates change
This is the part of a quote people overlook. Private applicants must go through a health assessment, and incorrect answers can cost you your coverage. Answer every question fully and accurately, including past treatments you consider minor.
The insurer can respond to your answers in several ways. According to one insurer's own explanation, a pre-existing condition does not automatically lead to rejection: depending on type and severity, the outcome can also be a risk surcharge or an exclusion of benefits. The same page states there is no private health insurance without a health assessment.
That means an early online estimate, however carefully calculated, is not a binding offer. Treat the first number as a range. The binding figure comes after the insurer has reviewed your questionnaire.
What to ask your adviser about your history
- Which past treatments do I need to list, and for how many years back?
- If I have a pre-existing condition, should the insurer's decision come before I cancel my current cover?
- Is a surcharge permanent, or can it be reviewed?
- Is an exclusion limited to one condition, or can it spread to related treatment?
If you have a history that needs careful handling, speak with an independent adviser before you submit anything to an insurer, because one application on record can shape later ones.
Check what is missing, not just what is there
The most expensive mistake in reading a quote is assuming a benefit is included. Stiftung Warentest advises that you identify the medical services that matter most to you and compare benefits and annual deductibles using a checklist. The reason is simple: if a benefit is missing from your policy, you generally cannot add it later without a new health assessment, which can mean surcharges or rejection.
Build your own short list before you read any quote. Typical items:
- Hospital: single or shared room, choice of chief physician.
- Outpatient care: reimbursement above standard fee rates, naturopathy, alternative treatments.
- Mental health: number of sessions, annual limits, whether psychotherapy needs approval.
- Maternity and fertility: relevant if you plan a family.
- Dental: crowns, implants, orthodontics and annual caps. Dental is where quotes are easiest to check line by line, and the habit of verifying dental quotes item by item is a good one to carry over to your tariff.
- Aids and therapies: glasses, physiotherapy, hearing aids.
- Care abroad: whether treatment on trips home is covered.
Tick each item against the written tariff conditions, not against a summary. The conditions document is the contract; the quote is the headline.
Private versus public: what the quote leaves out
A quote tells you the price of one person's cover. It does not tell you what you would pay in the public system or what you would give up by leaving it. A few differences matter for any decision.
- Income dependence. Public insurance is income-dependent and covers eligible family members for free. Private insurance requires separate policies for dependents, is not income-dependent, and premiums can rise over time.
- Paying for care. Private insurance follows the reimbursement principle (Kostenerstattungsprinzip): you typically pay for treatment and medication yourself and submit the bills for repayment. Make sure your cash flow can handle a large hospital or dental invoice for a few weeks.
- Switching back. Returning to public insurance is not readily possible, and after age 55 the conditions become more restricted.
Stiftung Warentest also notes that private insurance is generally most attractive financially for young, healthy people who may leave Germany, because premiums rise over time and are not income-dependent. If you plan to stay for decades, or to have children, the picture is different, and you should read the quote with that in mind.
To see both options side by side with your own salary, use our public versus private health insurance calculator.
Look past the first-year price
The monthly figure on a quote is the price today. What you will pay at 45 or 55 is a different question, and a good quote conversation covers it.
Ask these questions of any quote you receive:
- How have premiums for this tariff developed in past years?
- Does the tariff include any contribution relief for older age?
- What happens to the premium if I move to a different tariff at the same insurer?
- How financially stable is the insurer, and how long has it been in the market?
Be careful with single ratios you may find online. One industry glossary points out that the acquisition cost ratio depends on new business volume and sales channels and can be misread without company context. A low or high number alone says little. For a view of providers, see our overview of private health insurance companies in Germany.
A five-step routine for reading any quote
- Confirm eligibility. Check your income against the threshold or your status as self-employed, civil servant, student or family member.
- Write your must-haves. Use the list above before you look at prices.
- Compare like with like. Put quotes with the same deductible and the same tariff level next to each other, otherwise the cheapest one often just covers less.
- Read the exclusions and surcharges. These sit in the fine print and change the real price.
- Ask what is still open. Which numbers depend on the health assessment? What is the final premium after review?
Work through these in order and you will usually find one or two quotes worth a deeper look, rather than ten you cannot tell apart.
Where the final premium can differ from the estimate
Three things can move the number between a first quote and the contract.
- Your health answers. A surcharge or exclusion can be added, or the application can be declined.
- Your start date and age. Premiums are calculated on your age at entry, so a delayed start can change the price.
- Changes to the plan. Adding a dental module, raising coverage or lowering the deductible after the first quote changes the total.
If you have a visa deadline, an employer start date or a baby on the way, tell your adviser early, because timing affects which options remain open.
Perspective: what we see in quotes every week
At Myhealthcarebroker we are independent, so we are not tied to any one insurer, and we compare across providers rather than selling a single product. From that position, here is what we would tell a friend who has just received a quote.
First, do not start with the price. The cheapest quote is often the one with the highest deductible, the narrowest hospital cover or an exclusion you have not noticed. Start with what you would need in a bad year, then price that.
Second, do not treat private insurance as a purely financial decision. For a young, healthy single person on a short stay, it can be very attractive. For a family planning to stay long term, the extra policies for children and the rising premiums deserve a hard look, and public insurance is sometimes the better answer. We would rather you choose the right one than the one that pays us. Our service is free to you because the insurer pays our regulated commission when you sign, and that is exactly why we put the comparison before any recommendation.
Third, give yourself time with the health questionnaire. People who rush it are the ones who run into trouble later. Gather your records, answer everything, and ask us before you send it.
— Marco
Get a quote reviewed in English
If you already hold a quote, we will go through it with you line by line, in plain English, and compare it with other options across providers. If you do not have one yet, you can request a free quote, or try our private health insurance calculator first to see a likely range. Prefer to speak to someone first? Start from our page on private health insurance advice in English.
FAQ
Is a private health insurance quote binding?
Not until the insurer has reviewed your health questionnaire. Early estimates are based on the details you give, but the insurer can add a surcharge, exclude certain benefits or decline the application after assessing your answers.
Can I add a missing benefit to my policy later?
Generally not without a new health assessment, which may lead to surcharges or rejection. That is why it is worth choosing the right tariff modules at the start rather than planning to top up later.
Do I have to pay medical bills myself?
Usually yes. Private insurance works on a reimbursement basis: you typically pay the doctor or pharmacy and send the bills to your insurer for repayment. Check how quickly your insurer processes claims and whether it offers a digital app.
Can I go back to public insurance after choosing private?
It is not readily possible, and after age 55 the conditions are more restricted. Think through your long-term plans in Germany, including family and career, before you sign.
How many quotes should I compare?
Enough to see the same tariff level and deductible across at least a few providers. An independent adviser can narrow the market for you so that you compare quotes that actually fit your profile.
Sources
- Krankenkasse: Pflichtversichert, freiwillig oder privat? (Verbraucherzentrale)
- Krankenversicherung (gesund.bund.de)
- Private Health Insurance in Germany: Good and Affordable Coverage (Stiftung Warentest)
- Private Krankenversicherung: Checkliste für Angestellte (Stiftung Warentest)
- Private Krankenversicherung trotz Vorerkrankung
- Deductible in health insurance: meaning and plans
- Krankenversicherungslexikon (Hallesche)
- Verifying dental quotes with item numbers