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: statutory and private health insurance.

What kind of health insurance do I need?

As a student you need statutory health insurance up to your 30th birthday. The insurance is obligatory from the start of the 1st semester at a university or university of applied sciences.

However, you cannot be insured in statutory 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 statutory 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 statutory student health insurance.

Please note: If you have private health insurance at the official beginning of your studies, you cannot switch to statutory student health insurance at a later date.

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

We recommend the following health insurances

As statutory health insurance we recommend Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) (German), the largest health insurance company in Germany. We offer an online consultation service which will help you to find out if the student health insurance of Techniker Krankenkasse is the appropriate protection for you.

→ Online consultation

Using the consultation tool is easy. Your main advantage: You can apply for the health insurance of Techniker Krankenkasse online and will get all documents timely before beginning your studies. Of course, the health insurance plan of Techniker Krankenkasse fulfills the visa requirements of all German authorities.

Our product EDUCARE24 was developed for foreign visitors who need private health insurance during their stay in Germany. It is exactly tailored to the needs of students in Germany. EDUCARE24 can be purchased prior to arrival or within the first month after entering the country or starting classes, studies, an internship, teaching or research work.

GERMAN STUDENT INSURANCE by DR-WALTER

As you can see, regulations regarding health insurance in Germany are quite complex. DR-WALTER wants to make your future life as a student in Germany easier. In order to make sure that you will not have to concern yourself with all the requirements which we explained on this website, DR-WALTER developed German Student Insurance (GSI).

Students, PhD candidates, and language students often do not know how to get properly insured in Germany. The GERMAN STUDENT INSURANCE determines your insurance requirements and offers the appropriate protection from both the statutory and private insurance for your entire stay in Germany.

GSI fulfills all visa requirements, can be purchased easily online and is a cooperation with Techniker Krankenkasse, which is the foreign students' favorite health insurance provider in Germany.