# Private vs State Health insurance



## CookehMonsta (Feb 21, 2013)

If you have the choice (I hear that anyone earning over 54,000EUR a year can choose between state or private), which one end up being better value for money? What about Dental and specialist visits such as psychiatry in private vs public?

I'm in my 30s, with no special medical conditions except ADHD, for which I am prescribed dexamphetamine in Australia. This ends up costing me under 20EUR/month in medication costs, and maybe 50EUR every three months when I visit my doctor to get the prescription. So very low costs currently.

I'm not interested in anything to do with pregnancy, since we've decided we're never going to breed like cattle.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

I think this is a decision you need to be very careful with. You should talk to an independent insurance advisor before signing anything. 

As I understand it, private health insurance may look like a better deal when you're young, healthy and childless, but later on in life (assuming you stay in Germany) you'd be better off with public, however it's almost impossible to move back into the public system once you've gone private. 

There are a couple of reputable-sounding insurance advisors who regularly post to the other big Germany expat forum (which rules prevent me from naming here, but you can find it via The Local).

Given the amount you'll be making, it's also probably in your interests to contact a good financial and tax advisor right away, that might save you some grief and/or money.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

To add just a bit to what Nonymous has said - private insurance is able to offer health insurance on more or less whatever basis they care to, and to charge for it however they like. It may or may not have co-payments, limits on payments or deductible charges.

It might be a good idea to start out with the public insurance, as that is the "standard" cover, just to see how well it does or doesn't work for you. You can always switch to private later as long as you're making more than the threshold amount. But if you start out with private and decide you'd rather have the public plan, you probably are not going to be able to switch back.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

The one thing I've heard is to be very careful dealing with insurance agents who are employed by or receive commission from insurance companies - paying an *independent* advisor for their advice is probably money well spent, particularly as the OP will have a fair bit of it.


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