Insurance for International Doctoral Candidates

This is called obligatory insurance (Pflichtversicherung). You may choose your health insurance provider on your own; however, it is not possible to be insured with a private health insurance company. In the case of obligatory insurance, both the employer and the employee pay into the health insurance coverage and the payments are automatically deducted from your monthly salary.

Generally, you will be able to obtain voluntary coverage with a state-regulated provider only if you were insured in the state-regulated system in Germany before beginning your doctoral studies. In most cases, international doctoral candidates who have come to Germany for the first time will not qualify for this kind of insurance.

Private health insurance coverage and premiums depend on criteria such as your age, gender and the state of your health. The costs for private health insurance as well as the coverage provided vary greatly from company to company. Therefore, we recommend that you contact several companies and compare the conditions and the coverage offered. You can also ask if the companies offer any special rates for doctoral candidates.

Doctoral candidates who want to or have to take out insurance with a private health insurance company should pay particular attention to the benefits included in the policy when choosing their health insurance company. Because the services covered by the insurance can vary greatly from one private health insurance company to another and from one policy level to another, it is important to make sure that all basic and essential services are included in the chosen policy. This prevents unexpected costs from arising in case of illness. The following list contains an overview of the basic services provided through the public health system, which should also be covered by a private health insurance policy.

Services provided through the public health insurance system in Germany:

1) Services requiring a co-payment

• Hospital stays, EUR 10 co-payment per day for max. 28 days
• Medications, co-payment of EUR 5 -10 per prescription
• Physiotherapy, speech and occupational therapy, with a deductible of 10% of the costs plus EUR 10 co-payment per prescription for insured persons over 18 years old.
• medical aids that are not considered to be everyday objects or of minor importance, e.g. prostheses, wheelchairs or simple hearing aids, co-payment of 20% for aids such as orthopaedic insoles

2) Services with no co-payment

• Vaccinations (regular vaccinations for infants, children and adolescents, e.g. MMR, booster vaccinations, e.g. tetanus and indicative vaccinations, e.g. rabies)
• Regular dental treatments as well as regular preventive dental check-ups
• Psychotherapy
• Rehabilitation and health treatments at spas
• Maternity and sick pay (70% of salary, up to 6 weeks)
• Assumption of travel costs for the blind or visually impaired and for people with impaired mobility

3) Preventative Services

• Pregnancy check-ups
• Early detection of all types of cancer, at different intervals and for different age groups
• Health check-ups every 3 years from the age of 35 for men and women
• Protection while travelling abroad in another EU country

4) Additional Individual Services

• Acupuncture for back and knee pain and alternative healing methods in general are being increasingly covered
• No treatments by naturopaths; however, many insurance companies voluntarily cover the costs of some alternative treatment methods

Depending on the kind of health insurance you have, the registration either confirms that you are covered by obligatory insurance from a state-regulated provider (Pflichtversicherung) or, if you have private insurance, it confirms that you are exempt from such obligatory public insurance. Your private insurance will qualify for this exemption only if the coverage it offers is comparable to public health insurance (see above) and only if it  fulfills the following conditions:

• it does not include a limitation of coverage in the form of a cap on the reimbursement of benefits per claim
• it does not exclude the treatment of pre-existing illnessessuch as HIV, multiple sclerosis, hemophilia, malignant tumors (cancer) including leukemia, chronic kidney disease etc.
• it does not generally exclude treatments for alcohol, drug and other addictions or for detoxification and rehabilitation
• it does cover medically-necessary, inpatient detoxification treatments in the amout of at least 70 percent of the general hospital benefits for a period of up to 6 weeks per insurance year.

Only doctoral candidates who are enrolled at the University (§ 2, par. 1, nr. 8c SGBVII) and those who have an employment contract with the University (§2 par. 1 nr. 1 SGB VII) have full insurance coverage.

Doctoral candidates who are registered in their faculty but not enrolled at the University have limited accident insurance coverage. They are covered while working at the University. This includes activities that fall into the field of responsibility of the University such as participation in lectures and classes or working in the University library. They are, however, not covered on the way to or from the University or when taking part in University sports activities.

The Unfallkasse Baden-Württemberg is the accident insurance provider for Heidelberg University. Accident reports must be made through the student services organization, the Studierendenwerk.

Further information is available here:
► Unfallkasse Baden-Württemberg (UKBW) (German)
► Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung (DGUV) (German)