Health insurance in Germany

Without proof of health insurance, you cannot study at a German university. Proof of health insurance is also needed if you want to apply for a residence permit.

In Germany there are two kinds of health insurance: public and private health insurance.

What kind of health insurance do I need?

As a student you can take out public health insurance up to your 30th birthday. Public health insurance applies from the start of the 1st subject-related semester at a university or university of applied sciences.

However, you cannot be insured in public health insurance if your studies have not officially started, yet. The same applies to the time after your studies or to preparatory courses for university studies, internships or language courses. Moreover, you can only be insured in public student health insurance until your 30th birthday. Private health insurance is the ideal solution for all periods of time in which you cannot be insured in public student health insurance.

Please note that the following applies after the official beginning of your studies: Once you have taken out private health insurance, you cannot switch to public student health insurance anymore.

You do not know if you meet the requirements for public student health insurance? You will get the answer from our consulting tool.

We recommend the following health insurances

As public health insurance we recommend Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), the largest health insurance company in Germany. Techniker Krankenkasse is especially popular with students because of its great price/performance ratio and comprehensive benefits.

The private health insurance EDUCARE24 is the ideal insurance solution for all periods in which you cannot conclude public student health insurance.