What Do Foreigners and US Expats Need to Consider When Looking for Insurance in Germany?

For foreigners and US expats relocating to Germany it is crucial to understand the importance of obtaining a suitable insurance coverage. Navigating the German insurance market can be a complex task, but with the right knowledge and guidance, foreigners and expats can make informed decisions that protect their assets and well-being.

Health Insurance: A Legal Requirement

One of the first considerations for foreigners and US expats residing in Germany is health insurance. In fact, it is mandatory by law for all individuals to have health coverage. There are two main types of health insurance available: statutory health insurance (Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung) and private health insurance (Private Krankenversicherung).

Statutory health insurance is compulsory for individuals with a gross monthly income below a certain threshold. These plans offer comprehensive coverage and typically have more affordable premiums. On the other hand, private health insurance is generally more customizable and preferred by high-income earners or those who do not meet the criteria for statutory insurance.

Liability Insurance: Protection for the Unexpected

Liability insurance, known as Haftpflichtversicherung, is highly recommended for foreigners and US expats living in Germany. This type of coverage protects individuals from claims arising from unintentional damage caused to another person or their property. Accidents can happen anywhere, and liability insurance provides financial security and peace of mind.

Household Insurance: Safeguarding Your Belongings

Household insurance, also referred to as Hausratversicherung, covers personal belongings against damage or theft. Whether renting or owning a property, foreigners and US expats should consider this insurance to protect their valuables, furniture, electronics, and other household items. Comparing policies from different providers is essential to ensure comprehensive coverage at a reasonable price.

Navigating the insurance market in Germany

Finding the right insurance policy can be overwhelming for foreigners and US expats due to language barriers and unfamiliarity with the local insurance market. As insurance consultants with local expertise we can provide valuable insights and help in making informed decisions.

We compare a big selection of insurance offers to enable foreigners and US expats to evaluate different policies, coverage limits, deductibles, and premiums. We know about the reputation and reliability insurance providers and give a clearer perspective.

We ensure comprehensive coverage and financial protection for the start in Germany and to build a good life in a new country.

 

Finance and Insurance Management

Sustainable financial planning must first secure your existence and that of your family or your company. That is our absolute priority. That is why we not only work as an investment advisor, but also as an independent insurance broker by your side.

Depending on the investment horizon, your assets are exposed to short-term price fluctuations and economic cycles. B. Accidents, illnesses or occupational disability that can endanger the accumulation of assets and the financial concept. We have therefore specialized in looking for the overwhelming insurance market that best suits you and your life situation – whether it is accident insurance, health insurance or disability insurance. Our credo: “Know what is good and do what works.” We make sure that you invest every penny wisely and only in insurance that you really need.

Our ability lies in the right mix of protection and asset accumulation. We develop a holistic and sustainable financial plan for you, with which you can safely navigate through the great cosmos of the financial world. And because the world and life are constantly changing, we regularly compare your status – in order to readjust if your wishes or the market change.

Health insurance

Regardless of whether you have statutory or private insurance. We advise you competently and independently in both types of health insurance and show you the advantages and disadvantages of both systems.

In Germany we are subject to compulsory health insurance. This means that every citizen is obliged to provide evidence of private or statutory health insurance. Statutory health insurance (GKV) is part of the social security system, as is pension, unemployment and long-term care insurance. In addition to the statutory health insurance, it is also possible to switch to private health insurance. However, this change is dependent on certain conditions. In Germany, around 90 percent of the population are insured with the statutory health insurance companies and are therefore legally entitled to health benefits.

 

 

Statutory health insurance:
Due to the compulsory insurance, every employee whose annual income is below the compulsory insurance limit must take out statutory health insurance. Students, freelancers, civil servants and the self-employed also have the option of choosing private health insurance. A major advantage of statutory health insurance, however, is that the insured can insure their low-income partner and children mostly free of charge. The private health insurance system, for example, does not offer this type of free family insurance.

Which services a statutory health insurance company has to provide is largely regulated by law. 95% of the statutory benefits are the same for all health insurances. In general, the catalog of services includes measures to improve, restore or maintain the state of health. This includes, for example, the normal basic care at the dentist, all services in hospitals and outpatient treatments that are carried out by the family doctor or specialist. More and more statutory health insurances are now also offering additional services such as osteopathic treatments and professional tooth cleaning. Many health insurance companies also have bonus systems, whereby a health-conscious life is promoted and rewarded. There are a few health insurance companies that offer up to 200€ a year back as a bonus.

However, it is not only worth comparing health insurance companies because of the various additional services or bonus programs. The contribution rates also vary between providers. For employees, the general contribution rate for statutory health insurance is 14.6 percent. In addition, there is the individual additional contribution from the individual health insurance companies.

By comparing health insurance companies, not only can the additional services be optimized, but the premium to be paid can also be minimized. We would be happy to support you in these matters too.

 

Private health insurance:
Switching to private health insurance should be considered carefully. Nevertheless, the private health insurance system offers many advantages. In addition to better services and faster appointment finding with a specialist, the contributions for younger groups of people are often significantly cheaper than in statutory health insurance. Because the contributions for private health insurance are not based on income, as is the case with statutory protection, but on individual criteria. In addition to the professional group and the current state of health, age also plays a decisive role. There are also numerous tariff structures that influence the amount of the monthly fee. Depending on the scope of benefits required, the health insurance contribution can vary.

Regardless of whether you want very cheap private health insurance or coverage with additional extra services, the price-performance ratio is crucial for good private health insurance. A corresponding market comparison by us, which takes into account both costs and benefits, quickly shows you which health insurance is best for you.

 

Private supplementary health insurance:
With private supplementary health insurance, legally insured persons can protect themselves against co-payments for medical services. The insurance covers the additional costs either partially or completely, which the insured person would have to bear himself. Supplementary health insurance is offered for a wide variety of health areas.

Supplementary dental insurance is the best-known supplementary health insurance. The supplementary insurance for the dental sector covers the costs for agreed dental treatments (e.g. prophylaxis) or dentures. There is also supplementary health insurance that can be taken out in the event of an inpatient hospital stay. Depending on the services selected, these cover the additional costs for accommodation in a single or double room or for treatment by the chief physician for the insured person. As with private full health insurance, a health examination is required to apply for insurance cover.

 

Income provision

Your labor and the resulting income form the basis for your quality of life and the achievement of a certain standard of living. But your manpower can be lost from one day to the next due to illness or an accident. Even a long illness can lead to a drastic loss of income. Whether a traffic accident, burnout due to stress, allergies, back problems or cancer – many risks lurk at work and in leisure time. Income provision is more important than ever today!

There are different types of income provision. The best coverage here is an occupational or disability insurance or a so-called dread disease insurance (coverage of serious illnesses). In addition, we recommend a small accident insurance and, in the case of families or larger financing, protection against death (term life insurance).

Other products in this line of business are the daily sickness allowance in the event of loss of wages or the protection of basic skills (basic skills insurance). The range of pension options is large and confusing. We are happy to support you in choosing the right product that suits your personal situation.

 

Occupational disability insurance:
Until 2001, most Germans were still entitled to a statutory pension in the event of occupational disability. However, as a result of a legal reform, these social benefits were canceled and replaced by a disability pension. This pension is, however, much more difficult to get, because only someone who is no longer able to work in any occupation, regardless of the occupational field, is considered to be “reduced earning capacity”.

The risk of becoming unable to work before retirement is not insignificant. Every fourth German is unable to work before they retire. Against this background, occupational disability insurance (BU) is one of the most important insurances of all, alongside private liability insurance. Those who want to maintain their standard of living when they can no longer work themselves cannot avoid this private provision.

Even before you take out disability insurance, you should contractually exclude certain parts of the contract and some clauses. This is especially true for the abstract and the concrete reference. With this option, the insurer has the option of referring the person concerned to a comparable activity. With this option, the BU insurer has the option of referring the person concerned to a comparable activity. As a result, this can mean that a dentist is forced to work in a laboratory. It is irrelevant that he has a significant loss of salary. There is no question that this can completely discard a financial concept. We are happy to help.

 

Accident insurance:
The private accident insurance usually pays out for accidents of the insured worldwide. An accident is defined as a sudden and involuntary external event that affects the body and leads to damage to the health of the person. In the event of a claim, the insurer pays a cash benefit. This can be an accident pension or a one-off lump-sum payment.

The basic amount of the agreed disability benefit can be increased by means of an additional progression clause in order to better protect the policyholder financially in the event of higher degrees of disability. A progression of 225 or 350 percent can be recommended. The services of the different providers vary significantly. It is therefore advisable to precisely define the scope of insurance and to compare the benefits of the various accident insurances more precisely. We would be happy to support you here.

 

Dread Disease Insurance:
Dread Disease Insurance protects you from the financial consequences of serious illnesses. A particular advantage of Dread Disease is, for example, that the sum insured is paid out even if it is possible to return to work after treating the disease. This means that the policyholder does not have to be unable to work due to the illness, but still receives the agreed benefit, which is paid out in one sum immediately after the diagnosis.

The diseases that are covered include cancer, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, liver diseases, tumor diseases, epilepsy and many other diseases that have a significant impact on everyday life. In addition to serious illnesses, you can also insure risks that are not directly related to an illness, but nevertheless have consequences. This could include the heart attack or the stroke. In addition, various consequences of accidents are also taken into account.

 

 

Property insurance

Property insurance generally covers damage caused by damage to, destruction or the removal of property (objects, real estate, goods, etc.). They differ from personal insurance in that they do not cover the policyholder himself in his health, life or work, but have a factual reference.

The variety of different property insurance is very large. However, only a handful of them are absolutely necessary, some offer additional protection, but the majority are not absolutely necessary. Household insurance is probably the best-known private and property insurance. Home insurance covers damage to the home furnishings, it is a private property insurance. Furthermore, private liability insurance is one of the most important insurances that everyone should have, even if it is not a statutory mandatory insurance. The legal protection insurance covers the costs of legal disputes in courts and can thus help you to better enforce your legal claims.

When it comes to the question of which insurances are absolutely necessary for you, we support you as an independent insurance broker and work with you to develop an individual insurance concept.

 

Private liability insurance:
Private liability insurance is one of the most important insurances for singles, families and senior citizens and belongs in every financial concept. A brief moment of inattention is enough to cause unintentional harm to another person. Depending on the type of damage, this inattentive moment can result in high costs for claims for damages. If serious personal injury occurs, there are often lifelong payment obligations.

In such a case, private liability insurance takes over the payment of claims for damages due to negligent acts. In addition to settling claims, private liability insurance also bears the costs of checking the legality of claims for damages and defends against unjustified claims. The insurance companies also pay compensation for personal injury, property damage and financial loss. Families with young children should ensure that damage caused by children who are incapable of tort are also included.

 

Household insurance:

 

 

Home insurance:

 

 

 

Care insurance

The social long-term care insurance is a compulsory insurance and was introduced in 1995 as an independent branch (fifth pillar) of the social insurance in Germany and is regulated by law in the Eleventh Book of the Social Code (SGB XI). With the introduction of long-term care insurance, the legislature pursued the goal of covering the risk of the need for long-term care while keeping public funding within a narrow framework. To ensure this, long-term care insurance benefits should only have a supplementary character (e.g. care at home or willingness to care for relatives). Thus, the social long-term care insurance is designed as a basic insurance that does not cover needs.

However, the legally designed solution can only be seen as a “partially comprehensive” insurance and does not even remotely cover the costs of a care place. This is one of the reasons why we recommend our customers to set aside money at an early stage for any care case that may arise or to take out long-term care insurance.

Private long-term care insurance works on the principle of funded coverage: each generation of insured persons makes provisions for their own long-term care risk, which increases with age, at an early stage by setting up provisions for aging. This funded financing for care expenses means that no financial burdens are shifted to future generation of contributions. Rather, a capital stock is built up to provide for the future and relieve the following generations. This formation of capital will pay off in the future: it stabilizes the contributions to private long-term care insurance in old age and makes those with private insurance largely independent of the changing age structure of the population.

 

Care levels:
Depending on the severity of the need for care, a distinction is made between three care levels (§15 SGB XI):

Care level I (heavily in need of care): This level of care is assigned to those people who need help with personal hygiene, nutrition or mobility for at least two tasks from one or more areas at least once a day and, in addition, several times a week help with household care require. The daily expenditure of time for the necessary help in care level I must be at least 90 minutes, with 45 minutes being used for basic care.

Care level II (persons in need of heavy care): This level of care is assigned to those people who need help with personal hygiene, nutrition or mobility at least three times a day at different times of the day and who also need help with household care several times a week. The daily time required for the necessary help in care level II must be at least 3 hours, with two hours being devoted to basic care.

Care level III (people in need of extreme care): This level of care is assigned to those people who need help with personal hygiene, nutrition or mobility around the clock, including at night, and who also need help with household care several times a week. The daily time required for the necessary help in care level III must be at least 5 hours, with four hours being devoted to basic care.

 

The benefits of the private long-term care insurance are equivalent to those of the social long-term care insurance in terms of type and scope. The amount of the benefits basically depends on the degree of need for care and on where and by whom the care is provided. As a rule, the higher the care level, the higher the benefits.

 

Car insurance

Finding affordable and adequate insurance coverage for your vehicle depends on a number of factors. First of all, it must be clarified whether it is advisable to take out partial or fully comprehensive insurance or whether normal liability insurance is sufficient. The most important contribution-relevant features include the desired insurance variant, the damage-free years of the driver, the vehicle type, the mileage per year and the place of residence of the policyholder.

As an independent insurance broker, we support you in choosing the right car insurance. Regardless of whether it is an ordinary car, motorcycle, truck or your caravan. Get in touch with us and request a non-binding offer.

 

Liability insurance:
Motor vehicle liability insurance is required by law in Germany and serves as basic coverage for every owner of a motor vehicle. The scope of the motor vehicle liability insurance is not very large. The insurance covers the costs of damage caused to another person in traffic. What is meant here are personal injury, property damage and the so-called financial loss, as well as compensation for pain and suffering. Damage to your own car or motorcycle is not covered by motor vehicle liability and must be borne by the vehicle owner himself in the event of damage. This damage to your own vehicle can be covered by partial or fully comprehensive insurance.

 

Partial comprehensive insurance:
Partial comprehensive insurance is an additional insurance for your vehicle and insures damage to your own vehicle, provided that the owner is not responsible for this. The insurance cover extends to the regulation of minor damage such as broken glass, fire or theft, but also damage caused by force majeure or accidents with animals. Most insurances only cover collisions with wild animals. It is therefore important to pay attention to which animals are involved, as each insurance policy has different conditions. In order to lower the payment contributions, you can agree on a deductible per claim or a workshop commitment. We would be happy to explain the disadvantages of being tied to a workshop.

 

Fully comprehensive insurance:
Fully comprehensive insurance is the all-inclusive protection and is particularly recommended for new vehicles up to 3 years of age. The catalog of services includes the partially comprehensive cover and also covers the cost of damage to your own vehicle, even in the event of accidents caused by yourself or vandalism.

 

In addition to the insurances mentioned, you can also take out a cover letter, occupant insurance and traffic legal protection insurance. Here, however, we recommend carefully checking the need for this insurance. Passenger accident insurance is only recommended in the rarest of cases, and traffic legal protection insurance should be taken out through a specialized legal protection insurer rather than through your car insurance.

 

 

 

Financing

As an independent financial advisor, we have access to over 370 banks (regional and international banks, insurance companies, building societies, KfW). These include, for example, ING-DiBa Bank, DSL, Deutsche Bank, Targo Bank, Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Kreditbank, BHW, LBS, Münchener Hypothekenbank, Commerzbank, Württembergische as well as numerous Volksbanks and Kreissparkassen.

Some insurance companies now also offer building finance options, such as Allianz, Alte Leipziger, Axa, Deutsche Ring, Hannoversche Leben, Universa or the Volkswohl Bund.

For other types of financing such as corporate finance, debt rescheduling or personal loans, crowdfunded solutions can now be a better approach. We would be happy to advise you on these options.

 

Real estate purchase, investments or private financing requests – we offer you tailor-made solutions for your individual needs. In advance, we clarify the optimal combination with existing financing, the amount of available equity, the duration of the fixed interest rate and the type of repayment. On this basis, we create your personal financing concept.