# Health Insurance: New to Germany, MA student, over 30, married... My options?



## ejh (Aug 16, 2016)

Hello,

I've been accepted into an MA program at the University of Munster that begins in October. I'm needing to choose the best health insurance option for me.

I'm over 30, I'm married, my wife is accompanying me to Germany, and we're needing coverage for both of us (I'm hoping that she'd be able to be included in a package plan, saving us money). We do not have, and are not planning on having children. 

I'd like the plan to offer decent coverage, including things like preventative care, dental, and mental health coverage. 

I'm hoping those who are in a similar situation could offer me some advice or suggestions.

Thanks so much.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

I'm not sure how much to trust my advice because this all happend over fifteen years ago, but when my wife did her post-doc in Germany we had some fairly reasonable private coverage through something named Victoria or Viktoria. It likely didn't have dental or preventative or any extras, but it was adequate and cheap and covered an unanticipated pregnancy - these things happen. (When we decided to stay on and have the baby in Germany I started working and we switched to one of the public Krankenkassen, which was a bit more luxurious.)

In your case I'd ask the university for recommendations, you're surely not the first foreign graduate student in this situation. Also, if you go to that other forum that the rules don't permit me to name here (just google "toy" and "town" and "germany") there are a couple of frequent posters who are insurance agents specializing in expats - just ask around. 

I think the general rule is if you are planning to stay for the long haul, try to get into the public system even if it costs more. If you're fairly certain you'll be leaving after a few years, you can save money with private insurance (with the caution that it's difficult to get back into the public system once you've gone private, and private will become more expensive as you grow old and sickly).


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