The self-employed and freelancers can choose freely between the statutory health insurance and the private full health insurance. Which form of health insurance is recommended for them, however, cannot be said in general terms, but depends strongly on their personal professional and family situation.

What type of health insurance to choose best?

Statutory and private health insurance differ not only in terms of the services offered. The assessment of the contributions is also carried out under fundamentally different standards. The self-employed should take these two factors into account when choosing their health insurance.

The assessment of contributions to the statutory health insurance depends on income. This means: the more you earn, the more you pay - up to a legally defined contribution ceiling - but the benefits remain the same. This is not the case with private health insurance. Here, the amount of contributions depends on the chosen tariff and thus on the amount of benefits.

In many cases, self-employed with a good income can benefit from lower health insurance costs with better benefits compared to public health insurance.

In general, the individual contribution to private health insurance is determined by these 3 factors:

• Age of the insured person

As a rule, younger self-employed persons pay less in private health insurance than older ones.

 

• Personal state of health

The state of health of the insured person is also taken into account. Previous illnesses are considered a risk and usually result in a higher premium.

 

• Desired benefits

The more services you need or want, the higher the contribution. Conversely, you can cancel benefits that are unnecessary for you and save on contributions.

 

Since the premium level for private health insurance is determined by individual factors, it is advisable for self-employed and freelancers to have a personalised offer drawn up for them. If you are interested in getting a quote issued by a leading German health insurance company, click here.

 

What is the difference in contributions?

A model calculation can be used to illustrate the monetary advantage that private health insurance offers to the self-employed:

For self-employed persons with a monthly income of more than 4,687.50 euros, the contribution to statutory health insurance including sickness benefit entitlement and statutory nursing care insurance, is around 800 euros per month plus an additional contribution, which most health insurance companies require. The income used to calculate contributions also includes income from renting and leasing, income from capital assets and pensions.

For the self-employed with a good income, the statutory health insurance is therefore very expensive - at the same time, health services only provide basic care. The self-employed with high earnings are therefore better advised to take out private health insurance. Here, for example, a 30-year-old model customer can get very good basic coverage for under 300 euros a month. Offers with top protection cost on average 500 euros.

What self-employed should pay particular attention to when choosing a provider of private health insurance:

Self-employed people should pay particular attention to what they need to know before choosing a provider. Example in-patient sector: Only a few private health insurance companies reimburse services above the maximum rate of the Fee Ordinance for Doctors. Only a few, such as HanseMerkur, offer insured persons single rooms; with all other private health insurances, self-employed persons must make do with a two-bed room.

Self-employed persons have to reckon with an average monthly premium of 525 EUR. The deductible varies between 0 EUR and 1,000 EUR. The testers found the cheapest offer at EUR 354.43 per month and the best price-performance ratio for self-employed persons at HanseMerkur, which is also the current test winner in the field of private health insurance for self-employed persons in Germany

Paying too much for your PKV? Click here to find out

See here for more information about the pros and cons of private health insurance.