# Getting German healthcare as a contractor



## WishPirate (Nov 14, 2016)

My latest "moving to Germany; now what" thread. 

I plan on moving to Germany in the coming months. I am employed primarily by an American company (telecommute) that can't insure me in Germany, Every other company i work for, I'm an independent contractor.

I make somewhere between 32,000 and 36,000 Euros a year (equivalent, paid to me in a few different currencies). Is there any published sliding scale of how much I'd have to pay for public healthcare if I bought into it? Or does anyone have ballpark guess at what my pay-in to German state healthcare would be at my income level?


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

For public insurance, as self-employed you pay the full share (a salaried employee pays only half) at 14.6 percent of income. You might do better with private, though maybe not with a dependent child, but there are risks and it's not something you should choose without professional advice. 

You aren't earning a huge amount of money so really would want to run the numbers in terms of tax rates, insurance costs, rent, utilities, transportation etc. to see if this is feasible. With the full cost of health insurance I expect your net income would be under 2,000 euro/month, which won't leave a great deal after rent unless you're living in relative squalor. There are tax calculators online but again, it's not always easy to find resources in English.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

Important tip. When you register your address, if you are asked your religion, say "none" or you will be stuck with the church tax, which is a total pain to get back out of.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

I'm looking at this a bit out of curiosity because we're due to return in a few years. You need to be quite careful setting yourself up as self-employed, you want to be a "consultant" rather than a "business" to avoid certain taxes. You would be responsible for all your health insurance costs, but you are exempt from pension contributions (though you won't be able to collect either). It's not clear whether you'd need to charge VAT, which would obviously be problematic for your employers if suddenly you added 19 percent to the bill.

I think before I booked flights or put down a deposit on an apartment, I might engage a Steuerberater to tell me exactly how much I'm going to keep. It's possible my above estimate was pessimistic, but I'm thinking that 36k won't give you much margin for error.


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## *Sunshine* (Mar 13, 2016)

WishPirate said:


> I make somewhere between 32,000 and 36,000 Euros a year (equivalent, paid to me in a few different currencies). Is there any published sliding scale of how much I'd have to pay for public healthcare if I bought into it? Or does anyone have ballpark guess at what my pay-in to German state healthcare would be at my income level?


Since you are self-employed, unless you've had public insurance in the EU for at least 2 years in the past 5 or immediately before moving here you won't be able to enter the public health care system.

Furthermore, I really think you need to crunch the numbers before you move here. Berlin is no longer a cheap place to live for newcomers.


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## WishPirate (Nov 14, 2016)

I'm starting to try to crunch the numbers.

Does anyone know if this is a reliable tax calculator?

https://www.bbx.de/grossnet-wage-calculator-germany/

Also, my desire to move to Berlin is due a lot to my perception that it is one of the more affordable cities to live in within Germany. If not Berlin, then what city might be a good place to go to? I'm definitley open to other suggestions.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

*Sunshine* said:


> Since you are self-employed, unless you've had public insurance in the EU for at least 2 years in the past 5 or immediately before moving here you won't be able to enter the public health care system.


Damn, I'd forgotten that.

Potential deal-breaker if I were in the OP's situation.


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## WishPirate (Nov 14, 2016)

Wait... so if I have public healthcare in another EU country, even for just a few months prior to moving to Germany, I'm fine?

Because if that's the case, it may be a good idea to have my son and I finish out his first grade year in Italy, where we're citizens, and then spend the summer figuring out a move to Germany.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

WishPirate said:


> Wait... so if I have public healthcare in another EU country, even for just a few months prior to moving to Germany, I'm fine?
> 
> Because if that's the case, it may be a good idea to have my son and I finish out his first grade year in Italy, where we're citizens, and then spend the summer figuring out a move to Germany.


You'd want to contact an independent insurance broker and verify that scheme, and get cost estimates for both public and private insurance as self-employed.

And figure out whether you're entitled to Italian insurance, of course. Citizenship alone might not be enough.


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## *Sunshine* (Mar 13, 2016)

WishPirate said:


> Wait... so if I have public healthcare in another EU country, even for just a few months prior to moving to Germany, I'm fine?


It used to be 1 year in public health insurance immediately before the move to Germany. It might now be possible with less time.

Do you realise that public health insurance will cost you approximately 15 - 16 % of your profit, minimum 320€/month?


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## WishPirate (Nov 14, 2016)

@Sunshine--- Yes I'm aware of the costs-- I calculated them out. Given that I currently live in the USA, this is not necessarily a huge issue for me. Here in America, I'd be paying at least 100 EUR more than that per month under the current healthcare system... which, from what I can gather, is about to be dismantled in favor of a system where healthcare will simply become prohibitively expensive and/or impossible to access for other reasons.

I am aware that my healthcare would be more or less free if I lived in Italy, but Italy has issues of its own that I may or may not be willing to grapple with. Among other things, the Italian tax code makes self employment next to impossible, unless you're super-rich.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

There are plenty of self-employed people in Italy, I'm sure. They just avoid the Italian tax system.

For German health insurance, I would talk to an independent broker for advice (PM me and I will give you a reference). You might do well with private insurance if you are youngish and healthy; it becomes expensive later in life but if you aren't staying forever that might not be a problem. If you do stay forever and eventually take a salaried job it can be difficult to get back into the public system, so do tread carefully.


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## WishPirate (Nov 14, 2016)

"They just avoid the Italian tax system." Ah yes, I keep forgetting how bendable, breakable and dodgeable most facets of he Italian system are.

Still, I haven't ruled out Germany yet. About to send you a PM.


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## Lil_M (May 16, 2012)

*Sunshine* said:


> Since you are self-employed, unless you've had public insurance in the EU for at least 2 years in the past 5 or immediately before moving here you won't be able to enter the public health care system.


So what IS the connection between having had public insurance in the EU for 2 years and the ability to enter the German public healthcare system? And what are some of the advantages/differences between the public healthcare system and private insurance?


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## *Sunshine* (Mar 13, 2016)

WishPirate said:


> Among other things, the Italian tax code makes self employment next to impossible, unless you're super-rich.


I'm not familiar with the Italian tax code. How is it that much different from the German one? The German tax and social security system was designed assuming that only wealthy Germans would be self-employed.


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## *Sunshine* (Mar 13, 2016)

Lil_M said:


> So what IS the connection between having had public insurance in the EU for 2 years and the ability to enter the German public healthcare system? And what are some of the advantages/differences between the public healthcare system and private insurance?


The public system is a socialist system where contributions are based on a member's ability to pay (and self-employed members are assumed to be wealthy). Whereas the private system is capitalist, premiums are calculated based on individual risk.

In order to prevent freeloaders from being privately insured when they are young and healthy and then switching to public later in life, the rules regarding eligibility for the public system are set by law. Voluntary membership in the public system is possible for those who've previously been insured in the public system for 24 months in the previous 5 years.


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