Health insurance coverage for international students
In Germany, health insurance is mandatory for all students in undergraduate or graduate programmes. Enrolment is not possible without notification of your insurance status. Travel health insurance coverage is not sufficient!
Doctoral students are exempt from this insurance requirement for students!
It is therefore important to be properly informed about health insurance in Germany at an early stage in order to avoid having to pay for extra expenses.
Basic information on insurance in Germany
There are two types of health insurance coverage in Germany: statutory health insurance (also known as public health insurance or GKV) and private health insurance (PKV).
In the event of illness and/or accident, both types of health insurance coverage will cover some if not all the costs of pre- and post-operative examinations, rehabilitation and medication. However, the type and scope of the insurance coverage may vary considerably.
Statutory health insuranceThis option is strongly recommended for students who are eligible for statutory health insurance. Only if this is not an option (eg, because of age or income) should students consider private health insurance.
With statutory health insurance, the contractual conditions, the monthly contributions and the scope of benefits are regulated by law. The costs of insurance with GKV service providers is mostly the same. The GKV offers a more comprehensive service package for most situations, and is therefore often superior to private health insurance in terms of price and service.
Usually, you apply for a student health insurance before the start of the semester. In these cases, however, the contract period does not begin before the official start of the semester (summer semester 01.04./ winter semester 01.10.), so you do not have to pay before the start of the semester. Please verify this with your respective insurance company.
Here are some statutory health insurance companies that you could contact: TK, Barmer, DAK, AOK
The statutory health insurance is strongly recommended for students who are eligible. Only if this is not an option (eg, because of age or income) should students consider private health insurance.
The terms and conditions of private health insurance vary from provider to provider. It is therefore particularly important to compare offers and take into account the cost/benefit ratio. Low-priced insurance packages usually only cover the most basic and necessary services. In the event of serious illnesses or accidents, the costs can add up quickly, and are often not fully covered by private health insurance schemes.
Important note: Once you have selected private health insurance, it is not possible to switch back to statutory insurance during your studies! It is therefore strongly recommended to carefully consider your choice of insurance before starting your studies.
With this link you will find an overview of possible private health insurances.
Fintiba, Expatrio and Allyways offer an inexpensive solution that combines travel insurance for arrival, a blocked account (Sperrkonto*) and private health insurance.
Exemption from statutory health insurance
In order to enrol at the university with private health insurance, the University will need an exemption from compulsory insurance of the statutory health insurance. Therefore, please contact a statutory health insurance company of your choice (e.g. TK, Barmer). The health insurance company will then automatically report your status to the university.
A statutory health insurance provider can only issue an exemption if the private health insurance you have selected meets a minimum benefit level:
- Reimbursement for outpatient and inpatient medical treatment
- Deductibles to be borne by the patient must not exceed a total of 5,000€ per person and calendar year
- Coverage must not be restricted within Germany.
- Reimbursements must not be limited, neither in total nor per case
- Conditions must not exclude treatments for drug and other addictive diseases, including detoxification and weaning treatments
- Conditions must not exclude treatment of any of the following diseases, even if they were diagnosed prior to the beginning of the contract period: HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, hemophilia, malignant tumors/cancer including leukemia, chronic kidney diseases, including their consequences and associated follow-up care.
In addition, the conditions of insurance must not contain any of the following exclusions or limitations:
The following private health insurance packages meet these requirements. Please contact providers for further information:
In order to complete your enrolment process, we need confirmation of your insurance status from a German statutory health insurance.
Please contact a German statutory health insurance company and establish your insurance status in Germany. The health insurance company will then automatically report your status to the University. If you are privately insured, please contact a statutory health insurance company so that they can send a report on your exemption to us. Without this electronic notification of health insurance enrolment is not possible!
Doctoral students are exempt from this electronic health insurance notification and are not required to provide proof of health insurance for enrolment.
The following information is provided to help you select health insurance coverage, that is most suited to your needs:
Contact:
The International Office
Incoming Office
Von-Siebold-Straße 2
37075 Göttingen
Personal Office Hours:
Mon 10am -12 pm and Wed 2-4 pm
Hotline-International students and applicants
+49 551/39 27777
Calling Hours:
Mon - Fri 9 - 12 h