Medical Insurance - Statutory Provider

In Germany all students must be covered by a statutory medical insurance until they complete their 14th semester or their 30th birthday.The costs of statutory medical insurance for students differ slightly from each provider: approx. € 80 per month. The coverage begins on the day of enrolment. The time between the student’s arrival and the beginning of the semester is not covered. Therefore, we recommend you take out an extra insurance for this time.

Medical Insurance - Private Provider

There are a few fundamental differences between the medical insurance by a private provider and that by statutory providers. Private providers do not have agencies in all German cities. The provider reserves the right to choose their clients. They are not required to accept everyone who applies for coverage. Persons who have a long or complicated medical history are less likely to be accepted by a private provider. The monthly coverage fee by private providers is based on age, gender and the physical well-being of a person as well as the service plan chosen. Please make sure that you pay attention to the insurance terms and conditions regarding particular agreements on the reimbursement of costs or on maximum rates of medical fees. Doctors’ bills and dentists’ bills sometimes have to be paid by the patient, who is then reimbursed upon sending the receipt to his/her insurance provider. Cancellation periods, modes of payment, the offer of further enquiry and availability in case of illness may vary with different providers. Other important criteria for choosing a private provider can include services for regular physicals and routine check-ups, dental prosthesis, glasses, pregnancy as well as administrative aspects such as the period of notice for terminating services, method of payment, availability in case of illness and customer service benefits. International students wishing to obtain a degree at HTW Berlin should make sure their medical insurance meets the criteria of the German Mandatory Insurance Act (Pflichtversicherungsgesetz; §5 SGB). 

Students from the EU and/or of the ERASMUS programme

In some cases students from a member state of the European Union can be exempted from the statutory medical insurance in Germany, if they can prove that they are insured in another EU country that has a social insurance agreement with the Federal Republic of Germany. This is possible, if students have got an EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) or the form E 128 (or as the casemay be E106, E 109, E 111) or TA 11 from the insurance provider in their home country. In an acute disease the EHIC can be presented to the attending physician. For all preventive medical checkups and medical adjuvants like glasses these students have to contact the insurance in their homecountry. For the enrolment the EHIC has to be presented to a German statutory insurance provider. The German provider will then issue an exemption letter (“Bescheid zur Befreiung von der Krankenversicherungspflicht“). Please note that this exemption will be valid for the whole duration of your studies and cannot be revoked.  This letter must be presented to the Student Service Centre at the time of enrolment. The medical coverage from most other EU providers also covers the period oftime between arrival and enrolment. Hence an extra insurance for this time is not necessary.

Students covered by Family Insurance in Germany

Students whose parents or spouse are/is insured with a German statutory medical insurance are covered by this family insurance until the age of 25 under certain conditions and thus can be exempted from contributions. In this case, a coverage confirmation is required for enrolment.

Below is a list of terms you may come across when looking for Health Insurance