# Avoiding insurance back charges?



## Zon

I moved to Germany with my wife a few months ago, have been registered for 7 weeks now but still haven't got into the insurance system. The problem is I am currently researching/studying although do not have student status, and am not working. My wife is planning to work but due to personal issues has not started yet.

I've reviewed all the options and the best option for us seems to be for my wife to take the public insurance, paying €158 until she starts work, and then after she starts work will switch to that system, and I will register as a dependent partner which means I will be included on her insurance. (this is what the person at AOK office has told me).

The only problem is as we haven't had any German insurance for the last 2 months they said I MIGHT have to pay for the time I didn't have insurance, BUT there is a letter I can fill out giving a reason for not having insurance and if it is accepted I will not have to pay. 

The person in the office didn't seem to know much about what reasons are accepted though, so I want to ask if anyone here has any experience or knowledge about this?

On top of being unemployed/job seekers for the last two months, my wife also had a very basic travel insurance from her country (although I didn't, and yes I know that was stupid of me), so maybe we could say we/she used that for the time that we were still job seeking, but as I didn't have it I don't know what they would think. Another thing is that we will move house next week, so I was thinking if I was to change my address before applying maybe they will just think I had only just arrived? Although I feel like they are smarter than this...

Any suggestions or advice? Thanks!


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## James3214

Did you get a EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) before you left the UK? You could claim that you had that?


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## Zon

James3214 said:


> Did you get a EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) before you left the UK? You could claim that you had that?


Nope :/ I came here straight from several months travelling in central America.


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## Zon

Just had an idea... But could I not unregister my current address, then a few days later register the new one? Officially it would be as if I had stopped living in Germany, then started living here again. I don't see why that wouldn't be totally legal and avoid us paying potentially €600 for a service we didn't even use...


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## James3214

Trouble is that normally your old address is shown on the 'Anmeldung' form! Best hope, I think is to be honest and explain you did not know.


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## Nononymous

Zon said:


> I don't see why that wouldn't be totally legal and avoid us paying potentially €600 for a service we didn't even use...


Another way of looking at it is that if you'd had a problem during the past two months you might have been covered (with some retroactive paperwork) so in fact it's a service that you did "use" - in the insurance sense of the word. 

There's enough people on here getting screwed by their inability to sign up for reasonable public insurance in Germany that I wouldn't complain too loudly about having AOK coverage back-dated to your arrival.


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## Zon

James3214 said:


> Trouble is that normally your old address is shown on the 'Anmeldung' form! Best hope, I think is to be honest and explain you did not know.


From what I've been reading on the internet the companies are very strict about paying the back payments so I don't think hoping would help me  

About the anmeldung, what I meant wasn't just to change the address but to unregister as if I was leaving Germany, and then register as a new arrival. Would that be possible? To be honest I doubt it...

The other thing I am thinking is that even though I haven't lived in the UK for 10 years I never actually told them I left... Last time I was there a few years back I visited a doctor and was still covered by NHS, there is no way that could somehow help me right? 

Also do you think my wife's 3 month cheapo travel insurance from Turkey would mean she can get off the hook?



Nononymous said:


> There's enough people on here getting screwed by their inability to sign up for reasonable public insurance in Germany that I wouldn't complain too loudly about having AOK coverage back-dated to your arrival.


Nononymous, of course there are always people in worse situations, but since arriving in Germany I've been hit by several bad situations which are all adding up, also rendering me unable to work for the last few months and am in one of the worst conditions of my entire life. This €600 might not seem much to some but it will literally put me over the edge.


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## Nononymous

Wait a minute, didn't you start the other thread a few weeks ago, the one about how you thought you had a potentially life-threatening medical condition and couldn't get any insurance in Germany? Now you can get AOK but you're complaining about two months' back payments? 

I can't believe that I of all people am saying this, but I am: suck it up, pay the bill, consider yourself fortunate to be insured and stop trying to game the system.


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## James3214

I understand 600€ is a lot of money to those that don't have it, but I would speak to AOK and explain your situation and they might be sympathetic. They might arrange so that the 600€ is paid by increased premiums or allow you more time to pay it.
Sorry, but a lot of people don't like people that play the system, a bit like the NHS!


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## Zon

Nononymous said:


> Wait a minute, didn't you start the other thread a few weeks ago, the one about how you thought you had a potentially life-threatening medical condition and couldn't get any insurance in Germany? Now you can get AOK but you're complaining about two months' back payments?
> 
> I can't believe that I of all people am saying this, but I am: suck it up, pay the bill, consider yourself fortunate to be insured and stop trying to game the system.


Yes, and I paid all my medical bills for that situation myself.... And if the situation had of been more serious, which it thankfully wasn't, I would have returned to the UK to be treated there. How was I using the insurance system? 

I should also add the main reason it has taken so long to get on the system is because the system is so complicated for someone in my situation that even the AOK workers don't know what to do with me...


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## Nononymous

Zon said:


> And if the situation had of been more serious, which it thankfully wasn't, I would have returned to the UK to be treated there. How was I using the insurance system?


I'll admit that I don't know exactly how the NHS works, but if you'd not been living in the UK for ten years, and presumably not paid the appropriate contributions during that time, but stayed on the books as a resident so that you could suddenly fly over to take advantage of medical treatment, there's a school of thought that might consider that "using" the insurance system. 

Look, I'm no saint when it comes to cutting bureaucratic corners, but this one is far enough gone to set off my weasel-alert radar. Explain your situation to AOK and pay what you're asked to pay, period.


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## beppi

It is as Nononymous mentioned above: You are, by law, health insured from the moment you take up residence in Germany. Late registering for it does not change this, you just need to pay the rightful premiums after registering. You might even claim the medical bills you paid from your own pocket after you registered retroactively. That is one of the benefits of living in Germany, and of course has a price tag attached to it. Gaming the system as you described is a criminal offense and I'd heavily recommend you not to do this.
The health insurers do normally have solutions for cases like yours: E.g. you can pay in in installments or at a later date (fees and interest do accrue, of course).


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