Health Insurance for spouse

1. No private health insurance in Germany covers dependents free of charge. You must take up a separate insurance contract for yourself (and pay the fees).
2. If an insurance adviser and the international office already told you that you are not eligible for the public scheme, then what do you expect from us here? You could wait fo the reply from TK to get a third answer.
3. The cost of privat insurance depends on your age, health condition and the plan you chose (there are hundreds). Contact an insurance adviser or individual insurers to get a quote for your specific case.

You have three months after your arrival to retroactively arrange the health insurance. So you do not need to decide now.
It is probably easier to contact insurance brokers and get advice once you are here.

Sounds like you need to at least follow up on your inquiry by the public insurance. One should not assume rejection without having gotten an answer. I can't judge your sitution but question who gave you the advice that you have to get private insurance? If it is someone getting commission for selling insurance then they might not be objective since a public option will not earn then anything. But your language is also not clear. It sounds like the reason they gave you for requiring private insurance is your ages? - but this is not possible. Being in one's early 30's does not determine which insurance you have to take. Like Beppi suggested, you can take care of this when you arrive. Sometimes it it better when you can physically go in and get answers in person rather than trying to communicate through email or calls...

If you get private insurance the cost will depend on the tariff you choose and your age and prior health issues. Like Beppi mentioned, you will have to pay for seperate policies for each of you. Public options are based on income. Unless your huband would make a huge income, the cost of  public option will undoubtably be less than a private one because you will automatically be covered under his policy at no additional cost if you are not working.

Thank you for enlightment, Beppi.
Just tried to call TK finally, they said case by case is different. For my husband's case they said it is still eligible to apply TK, IF he already have a resident permit for 1 year or student visa for 1 year. Unfortunately my husband's visa is only for 6 months, so for now it is possible to take private first. Once he arrived and then get the resident permit, maybe we can switch to TK. Hopefully things will go smooth when the switch process.

Halies wrote:

Thank you for enlightment, Beppi.
Just tried to call TK finally, they said case by case is different. For my husband's case they said it is still eligible to apply TK, IF he already have a resident permit for 1 year or student visa for 1 year. Unfortunately my husband's visa is only for 6 months, so for now it is possible to take private first. Once he arrived and then get the resident permit, maybe we can switch to TK. Hopefully things will go smooth when the switch process.

You better clarify your options. One can sometimes swith from one private insurer to another. Or maybe from a public option to another public option. But once privately insured one can normally not switch then to public insurance. It is too long and complicated to explain why but it is a logical rule. Maybe there are some exceptions in such a case as yours, especially if it was only for a short time period. But get informed, do not just assume you can later switch from private to public even if he would then fullfill the requirments.

Hi, TominStuttgart.

Ya we finally called TK, and get the answer that case by case is different. For my husband's case is still eligible to apply TK, If he has a resident permit for 1 year or student visa for 1 year. As I answer to Beppi, for now it is possible to take private first.

International office of his campus, told him that from his age it is not allowed to take public but they're not allowed to give a recommendation private insurance also.
Insurance advisor (I can't mention this) who gave us recommendation that the best private insurance is Hanse Merkur.
So, from the last answer from TK, we're now clear enough. Thanks for enlightment.

Halies wrote:

Hi, TominStuttgart.

Ya we finally called TK, and get the answer that case by case is different. For my husband's case is still eligible to apply TK, If he has a resident permit for 1 year or student visa for 1 year. As I answer to Beppi, for now it is possible to take private first.

International office of his campus, told him that from his age it is not allowed to take public but they're not allowed to give a recommendation private insurance also.
Insurance advisor (I can't mention this) who gave us recommendation that the best private insurance is Hanse Merkur.
So, from the last answer from TK, we're now clear enough. Thanks for enlightment.

But the reason then is based on time of his visa - and not his age.

But look what I wrote above about switching from private to public insurance. It is usually NOT allowed, even if he later has a longer visa that would normally allow him to take public opions.

TominStuttgart wrote:

It sounds like the reason they gave you for requiring private insurance is your ages? - but this is not possible. Being in one's early 30's does not determine which insurance you have to take.

Sorry, Tom, but you are wrong here:
The subsidized student health insurance that public insurers offer (for approx. 75 €/month) is only available up to 30 years of age.
Above that, complex rules determine who can or cannot join the public scheme (at a non-subsidized rate, for students around 170 €/month, or so I heard).
For young and healthy people, some private plans cost about the same as a public option. The disadvantage is, of course, that private cannot add dependents free of charge, the costs will sure go up with age - an under normal circumstances you cannot switch back to public!

beppi wrote:

TominStuttgart wrote:

It sounds like the reason they gave you for requiring private insurance is your ages? - but this is not possible. Being in one's early 30's does not determine which insurance you have to take.

Sorry, Tom, but you are wrong here:
The subsidized student health insurance that public insurers offer (for approx. 75 €/month) is only available up to 30 years of age.
Above that, complex rules determine who can or cannot join the public scheme (at a non-subsidized rate, for students around 170 €/month, or so I heard).
I assume for the OP, who is above 30, those rules say private insurance.
For young and healthy people, some private plans cost about the same as a public option. The disadvantage is, of course, that private cannot add dependents free of charge - and the costs will sure go up with age.

Yes, there are age limits for public option student insurance. But that is just a specific situation - not for public insurance in general, which has no age limit. Thus at age 30 one of course can still get public insurance - just not for student rates. What I wrote was thus correct in my intended context about eligibility of public vs. private and age limits. I officially came to Germany and got public insurance at age 36. Thus a statement that one HAS to take private insurance because they are 30 is simply wrong.

The reason, according to what has been claimed is because the visa is not long enough. And since many students might come from abroad for just a semester I assume there is an exception for this time limit for people eligible on a study visa and still young enough to qualify for the cheap student insurance. If not eligible for student rates, a public option is usually possible and will still likely be cheaper than normal private insurance since this entails 2 separate policies rather than the wife being insured for no additional cost since she is not working.

Here is a link I strongly recommend to a site in English that specifically mentions conditions for students over 30, and that they (usually) have the option for either public or private insurance. What I did not specifically see is if the public option is limited to a visa with a min. of 1 year or not. As mentioned in the quote I am including, the Deutsche Studentwerk has an agreement with 2 private insurers for special tariffs for students over 30. What I don't see is if the wife would also get this special private tariff or have to pay normal rates. But the upshot is that even if over 30 and having to take private insurance, there is still a special rate for students. Thus I don't think the poster has too much  to worry about.

Another thing is that under public insurance, at normal rates, the non-working partner gets insured free. But this does not seem to be the case with the cheaper student tariff - as far as I can find. Thus, even if the husband had been young enough to get a public student tariff, it appears that the wife would need a seperate policy anyway.

“What if I'm over 30?

After your 30th birthday or your 14th term of study you can no longer get public health insurance at the favourable student rate. However, some public health insurance funds do offer tariffs for graduates which grant cheaper rate health insurance for one extra term. You can also take out voluntary health insurance with one of the public health funds.
Private health insurance is the other option. This applies particularly to students who are already 30 when they begin studying in Germany.

The Deutsche Studentenwerk has made a general agreement with the UNION Versicherungsdienst and Hanse Merkur Reiseversicherung AG for students who cannot get insurance with a public health fund. “

http://www.internationale-studierende.d … insurance/

Tomm & Beppi:

Thank you for clear explanation. My husband already take private insurance, the period of insurance is 1.5 years. According to his study period. Because he needs to decide it for matrikulation next week.
And for my visa I will take private also,  separately.
I still don't know whether he will work after study in Germany or somewhere else.

Halies: I am glad you sorted things out in the end - and sorry that the German health insurance rules are sooo complicated. (Even Tom's last reply above is not entirely correct, but I'll end the discussion here.)
Have a nice time in Germany - and hopefully you'll be healthy enough not to use the insurance!

Halies wrote:

Tomm & Beppi:

Thank you for clear explanation. My husband already take private insurance, the period of insurance is 1.5 years. According to his study period. Because he needs to decide it for matrikulation next week.
And for my visa I will take private also,  separately.
I still don't know whether he will work after study in Germany or somewhere else.

Nice to hear that you found a solution!
Did your husband get a special student rate from the private insurer and did you as well or is yours more expensive?