Information for BSC, MSC & MBA students

1. General information

Health insurance is mandatory for all students in Germany and one of the most important requirements for enrollment.

In Germany there are two types of health insurance: public and private insurance.

Public insurance:
Most students in Germany are insured with a statutory health insurance fund. You have a free choice regarding the offered public insurance companies (e.g. AOK, TK, DAK, HEK etc.) Contributions for mandatory student insurance are regulated by law and are identical for all statutory health insurance companies. Generally, the monthly contribution for students for all statutory health insurance companies is currently ca. € 120. Please note that the Federal law for the promotion of training (BAföG) is the calculation basis for the student rate for all public health insurance providers.

The public insurance is a cost-saving choice as the contributions of the public insurance company are stipulated. Beside the coverage in case of illnesses the public insurance companies also cover preventive medical check-ups as well as the treatments of pre-existing illnesses. With a public insurance spouses (who are not working) and children are included into the insurance free of charge.

Private insurance:
The rate of a private insurance is based on your risk profile (not on your income). In general older people or women pay higher rates. The benefits of private health insurance companies may vary considerably.

Important:
Non-EU students younger than 30 years have to be insured with a public insurance company in Germany. Full health insurance cover for your stay in Germany is very important, also for your residence permit. It is a precondition for your legal stay in Germany and therefore necessary for your registration as a resident and as a student.

Please find here a video from TK (public health insurance provider) that summarizes the most important facts about health insurance in Germany and what you need as a student in Germany.

What to submit for enrollment
In the next chapters you will find more information on the exact proof of insurance that needs to be submitted for enrollment. Please click on the arrows or use the table of contents on the right to navigate yourself through each chapter consecutively.

The proof of insurance depends essentially on your country of origin (or residence), so we have summarized in the following chapters what exactly has to be submitted if:

• you are from an Non-EU country
• you are from an EU country
• you are from Germany

You can find an overview about what to submit for enrollment in the following chapters. 

2. International non-EU students younger than 30 years

Interim period of travel
Please be aware that you need full medical travel insurance for your interim period of travel until the first day of enrollment. Usually you need this travel insurance for your visa application as well, even though you will sign up for a German health insurance for enrollment. Travel insurance is not sufficient for enrollment at KLU. Due to German law you can only be health insured as a student for the time period of your official enrollment.

So you need both of them:

1. Travel insurance to apply for the student visa in your home country / for the interim period of travel and

2. Sufficient health insurance for your whole study time in Germany - important for your enrollment at KLU

Proof of insurance for enrollment

Do I have to sign up for a German insurance or can I use my international insurance for enrollment?

International health insurances taken out in a non-EU country are in general not valid in Germany. Private international health insurances are not sufficient and will not be accepted. Also private health insurances for the purpose of visa applications cannot be not accepted for enrollment as they limit the cost coverage or the duration of validity. Students will have to apply for a German statutory health insurance in order to be enrolled at KLU.

Non-EU students from countries that don’t have an agreement  with Germany regarding health insurance are required by law to take out a German student health insurance. All international  students  below the age of 30 have to opt for statutory health insurance in order to be enrolled and to be able to apply for their residence permit in Hamburg. Only in exceptional cases it is possible to take out a private health insurance for international students, e.g. if you are older than 30 and are therefore not eligible for the compulsory German public health insurance. If you are older than 30 and from a non-EU country, please find more information in the next chapter.

All statutory health insurances are sufficient for getting a residence permit in Germany. You have a free choice regarding the offered public insurance companies (e.g. AOK, DAK, HEK etc. - please find names and addresses in the subchapter 2.2. "Further statutory health insurance companies").

KLU closely cooperates with a statutory health insurance company, the "Techniker Krankenkasse" (abbr. "TK"), which is one of the biggest statutory health insurance companies in Germany and offers very good services. The monthly contribution for health- and long-term care insurance is roughly € 120 - the same amount like at all other statutory health insurance companies. Please note that the Federal law for the promotion of training (BAföG) is the calculation basis for the student rate for all public health insurance providers.

KLU offers regularly TK support hours on campus where you can discuss open issues with a contact person. If you wish to sign up for TK, KLU will assist you with you application. Please find more details as well as the membership application form in the next (sub)chapter. "Techniker Krankenkasse - membership application form".

Do I have to sign up for a German health insurance even if I arrive later than the official semester start (Sept 01) due to visa problems?
Yes. Due to German law you can only be enrolled with sufficient health insurance. That means you definitely need to sign up for a German, public insurance and submit the required proof along with your enrollment documents.

Exemption from compulsory health insurance for Ukrainian refugees

The Association of statutory health insurance funds has announced that Ukrainian refugees can apply for an exemption from the health insurance obligation as long as their first residence is not in Germany. You can get in touch with TK or any other statutory health insurance to ask for a proof of exemption.

What to submit for enrollment

Your insurance status will be transmitted to the universities by the statutory health insurance companies via an electronic reporting system (“Elektronisches Meldeverfahren”). Therefore, you must contact a statutory health insurance company as soon as possible after receiving your letter of admission and apply for a student insurance there so that your insurance status is reported to KLU. If your status is not reported to KLU, you will not be finally enrolled and will not receive any semester documents.

For the notification of the insurance status to KLU, the health insurance companies might require the sender number of KLU: H0002523.

2.1. Techniker Krankenkasse - link to online application form

If you wish to apply for TK, just follow this link:

Become a member - students

Please fill in your personal data to process with your membership application. In case you will apply for TK please submit your TK application number (you will receive this number after having submitted your TK online application) for enrollment.

More information about TK can also be found here: TK website in English.

Kindly note that you can only become a member as of your first day of enrollment (BSC/MSC students: Sept 01). This is the start of the academic year; an earlier start is not possible due to German law. Please be aware that you need full medical travel insurance for your interim period of travel until enrollment day.

In case of any further questions please have a look at our FAQs first. If you have any more questions, just ask us: studentservices@klu.org. 

Monthly contributions
Currently, the monthly contribution for students for TK is like all statutory health insurance companies about € 120. 

After your membership at TK becomes valid you will be asked by TK if you would like to submit a SEPA mandate direct debit to agree for monthly payments. To do so you need a German bank account, so you need to wait with the decision until you will be in Germany. The other possibility is to pay in advance for one semester= 6 months. In this case you would receive an invoice from TK.

You will be informed by TK about the exact process during the Welcome Week and at the same time you will also receive your health insurance documents. We will have several sessions during the Welcome Week to finalize your membership.

TK Services
KLU offers regularly TK support hours on campus where you can discuss open issues with a contact person. Moreover, the Techniker Krankenkasse provides a 24 hours, 7 days a week customer advice hotline (Tel. +49 800 - 285 85 85) as well as an AppointmentService (Tel. +49 40 - 46 06 61 92 20, Mon - Fri 7 AM - 10 PM). TK supports you to find an English-speaking doctor/specialist in time. If you require medical advice you may contact TK-MediCall (Tel. +49 40 - 46 06 61 91 40).

Please find more information about TK's services on TK's website.

How can I get in touch with TK?
Once you are on campus you will meet our contact person from TK in person. During the Welcome Week we will have several support hours from TK where you will be informed about TK's services and the health care system in Germany in general.  You will receive your health insurance documents from TK and can ask all questions you may have.

As soon as you have a German address, please let TK know about it. TK will send all postal documents to you directly. Up to this date kindly use the address in your home country when applying for TK. 

Of course you always have the possibility to get in touch with our contact person from TK directly in case you have any questions in details concerning your health insurance at TK.

Please find the contact details here:

Jurij Visnakov from TK:

Phone: + 49 40 460 65 10 16 16
Email: jurij.visnakov@tk.de

TK Info Sessions for all future students

Getting started in Germany can be very difficult, especially when it comes to health insurance. Therefore, we would like to invite you to our Welcome Session.

We will talk about:

• Essential documents for your studies
• The German health care system
• Difference between statutory and private health insurance
• Benefits and services of statutory health care system

After the session, you will be an expert and can calmy begin with your studies.

Please register via the link below:

Click here to register for Welcome-Session 2024

Important: You will get an email to confirm your registration for the Welcome-Session including a link to your event.

Dates and Time:

Tuesday, February 27th, 2024 from 2pm to 3pm

Thursday, March 14th, 2024 from 3pm to 4pm

Tuesday, March 26th, 2024 from 4pm to 5pm

Please Note: All times are in the Central European Time

Onlinetool: MS Teams

Speaker: Dustin Hustede & Jurij Visnakov

Sign up under: Welcome-Session 2024

2.2. Further statutory health insurance companies

Of course, students from overseas are able to apply at any German health insurance company (in Hamburg/in the north of Germany), e.g.:

• "AOK"
  Studenten-Service
  Schlüterstraße 22
  20146 Hamburg
  phone: 040 2023-2210
  fax: 040 2023-2213
  information for international students
  e-mail: ass.hamburg(at)rh.aok.de

• "DAK"
  Servicezentrum Hamburg-Mitte
  Großer Burstah 23
  20457 Hamburg
  phone: 040 86625190
  fax: 040 8662519-7060
  e-mail: service715700(at)dak.de

• "Barmer GEK"
  Grindelallee 45
  20146 Hamburg
  phone: 0800 332060 45-0
  "Rückrufservice Fax": 0800 332060 45-2879
  e-mail: hamburg(at)barmer-gek.de

3. International, non-EU students 30 years or older

Proof of insurance for enrollment
If you are a non-EU student and 30 years or older you have to opt for a private insurance scheme. Only in case you have been insured with the student's compulsory health insurance in Germany before, you have the possibility to take out a voluntary health insurance policy with a compulsory health insurance company (monthly contribution ca. € 200).

If you come to Germany directly from abroad and you are older than 30 years you need to take out a private German health insurance policy. The private insurance scheme may rise to € 250 per month. Moreover, some insurance providers may require that you provide proof of your recent health insurance and your health condition.

When you are insured with a private insurance you have to pay bills from the doctor or dentist by yourself first and then submit the bill to the private health insurance provider to be reimbursed.

Please note that most costs incurred for pre-existing diseases usually will not be covered by private insurances (e.g. chronic diseases such as asthma or allergies). Therefore it may be wise to bring any necessary medicines with you from home - provided that you respect import regulations. Private insurances tend to exclude several benefits, e.g., dental treatments or mental health disorders and are often very limited in case of mental health treatments (e.g., in case of depression). It is therefore important to consider your own financial situation and to clarify whether you can pay for any necessary treatment yourself.

***We know that the requirements for a sufficient proof of health insurance are not easy to understand, especially for non-EU students older than 30 years. Therefore we created a fact sheet where you can find more information about the requirements for getting a residence permit in Hamburg with a private health insurance, please find it here:

***Fact sheet health insurance, residence permit & enrollment non-EU students older that 30 years***

What do I have to consider when taking out a private insurance policy?

Your private insurance provider has to be accepted by Hamburg’s authorities when applying for a residence permit in Hamburg. Only in this case it is also sufficient for enrollment and you can be sure that you can stay in Hamburg after the period of your visa (usually 90 days) ends and you have to apply for a residence permit in Hamburg. Please note: The travel insurance you usually need for your visa application will not be accepted when applying for a residence permit in Hamburg.

To obtain a residence permit all requirements named in the form "Confirmation of private health insurance coverage - Appendix 1: Permanent protection" need to be confirmed by your private insurance company. The form is a document from the Hamburg Welcome Center - here you will apply for your residence permit once you are in Hamburg.

Only if all requirements in accordance with the Hamburg Welcome Center are met, the private insurance is sufficient for enrollment. Most insurances who offer special tariffs for international students currently do not fulfill all requirements listed in the form of the Hamburg Welcome Center. So we kindly ask you to check all conditions carefully before you sign a contract with a private health insurance provider!

Currently only a few private providers confirmed to fill out the form from the Hamburg Welcome Center without crossing anything and offer a tariff for international students:

- "Inter Krankenversicherung - Dr. Walter”: Please find more information about the contributions, the benefits, its general conditions and how to apply here.

- "Vela - tariff: Optimal"

- "Care Concept - tariff: Care Student" (offers a solution for international students from 30 to 34 years)

To be on the safe side, please always ask the insurance whether they fill in annex 1 without crossing any letters before taking out the insurance.

Do I have to sign up for a German health insurance even if I will arrive later than the official semester start (Sept 01) due to the current corona situation?
Yes. Due to German law you can only be enrolled with a proof of health insurance. That means you definitely need to sign up for a German  insurance and submit the required proof along with your enrollment documents.

What to submit for enrollment
For your enrollment, you need to apply for a private German health insurance that will complete the form “Confirmation of private health insurance coverage - Appendix 1: Permanent protection” without any restrictions.

Please submit a copy of this form filled out by your insurance provider as well as a copy of your membership confirmation of your private German health insurance.

If you are not able to be in Germany right from the semester start, please get in touch with Student Services.

4. Students from the EU or countries that have a social security agreement with Germany:

If you are from the EU or a country that has a social security agreement* with Germany (like EFTA countries), you can remain insured with your home country insurance during your stay in Germany if you have state-regulated health insurance in your home country. In order to do this, you must stay registered with your health insurance company and continue to pay the premiums.

*Countries that have a social security agreement with Germany include e.g.: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Tunisia, United Kingdom.

The EHIC allows you to obtain any unplanned medical treatment that may be necessary while you're temporarily studying in another EU country (as well as Iceland, Switzerland, Norway & Liechtenstein). It gives students access to whatever treatment becomes necessary, depending on the length of time they're spending abroad. It's up to the healthcare provider to define what types of treatment are medically "necessary". As students are usually staying for longer than tourists - who may only be visiting for a few days - they have access to a wider range of treatment. You can use your EHIC only at the public healthcare providers, as it does not cover privately provided healthcare.

Students from the EU or countries whom the Federal Republic of Germany has a social security agreement (EU/EFTA countries) with, should obtain the required European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) from the health insurance company in their home country.

It may be that your insurance does not cover all costs. Please contact your local health insurance provider to find out which services are fully covered. An additional insurance may be necessary.

Important: as soon as students with a health insurance from their EU home country take up an employment, self-employment or paid internship, even if it is less than 20 hours per week, the insurance of the EU home country becomes invalid. In such cases, the student must now take out insurance as a student with a German statutory health insurance company. Please clarify this with your (future) employer.

What to submit for enrollment
For enrollment, please submit a copy of your EHIC. Please make sure that all information on the back of your card is readable (your name, validity).

Additionally, you need to prove that you are exempted from the statutory health insurance obligation in Germany. For this, please contact our consultant Jurij Visnakov from TK: 

Phone: + 49 40 460 65 10 16 16
Email: jurij.visnakov@tk.de

As a prove you must send him a scan of your EHIC.

Alternatively, you can contact any statutory health insurance company (e.g. DAK, AOK, Barmer, etc.) and ask them to report your insurance status ("nicht gesetzlich versichert") to KLU via the electronic reporting system. KLU's sender number is: H0002523.

5. Students from Germany

Under German law, all students are required to take out health insurance. Most students in Germany are insured with a statutory health insurance fund.  The monthly contribution for public insurance for students is regulated by law and about € 120. Please be aware that after you turn 30, the premiums increase by around € 90 per month. For German students it is also possible to present a private German health insurance ("Vollversicherung") for enrollment. Please note that once you decided to take out a private insurance the validity period for the exemption from the student health insurance is the period of study and during this time the exemption cannot be revoked.

More information for students insured with TK

What to submit for enrollment

If you are insured with a public health insurance

Your insurance status will be transmitted to the universities by the statutory health insurance companies via an electronic reporting system (“Elektronisches Meldeverfahren”). Therefore, you must contact a statutory health insurance company as soon as possible after receiving your letter of admission and take out student insurance there so that your insurance status is reported to KLU. If your status is not reported to KLU, we cannot report your student status to the health insurance company and your student insurance will not be activated.

For the notification of the insurance status to KLU, the health insurance companies might require the sender number of KLU: H0002523

If you are insured with a private health insurance

Please submit a confirmation of health insurance from your private health insurance company. A copy of your insurance card is not sufficient. Additionally, you need to prove that you are exempted from the statutory health insurance obligation (Befreiung von der gesetzlichen Krankenversicherungspflicht). You can easily request the exemption from the statutory health insurance online on the TK website or contact our consultant Jurij Visnakov from TK: 

Phone: + 49 40 460 65 10 16 16
Email: jurij.visnakov@tk.de

As a prove you must send him a confirmation of your private health insurance.

Alternatively, you can contact any statutory health insurance company (e.g. DAK, AOK, Barmer, etc.) and ask them to report your insurance status ("nicht gesetzlich versichert") to KLU via the electronic reporting system. 

For the notification of the insurance status to KLU, the health insurance companies might require the sender number of KLU: H0002523.