Four Ways Back into Statutory Health Insurance: How to Switch from Private Insurance
- Carolin Ochs
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
What most of us know: if someone no longer wants to remain in private health insurance, they usually have to take up paid employment again. But is that the only option?
In this article, you will learn about four ways to switch back from private health insurance to statutory health insurance. At the end of the article, you will find the most important legal references.
Info in trainings and courses
1. Employment
The easiest way back for people who are under 55 years of age is taking up employment through an employment contract.
However, be careful: it must be more than a mini-job.
2. Reducing Your Salary
You switched to private health insurance after exceeding the compulsory insurance income threshold. Now you realize that private insurance is not the right choice for you?
In that case, it may make sense to work part-time for a while. By reducing your working hours, your income may fall below the compulsory insurance threshold again, making you subject to compulsory statutory health insurance as an employee.
This option does not apply to people over 55 years of age.
3. Family Insurance
If your spouse is insured under statutory health insurance, you may be able to join their insurance free of charge through family insurance.
To qualify, your income from self-employment must be below the marginal income threshold, which is currently €565
per month (as of 2026).
Family insurance can open the path back into statutory health insurance.
Special case: retirees
For retirees, this route is more complicated, as pension income is usually fixed. However, there is still an option: you can reduce your pension to a so-called partial pension (Teilrente).
To do this, you must calculate the percentage you want to receive and apply for a partial pension with the German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung).
Important: In this case, you are not entitled to social benefits from the Jobcenter or Social Welfare Office, because the pension reduction is voluntary and can be reversed at any time.
This option also applies to people over 55 years of age.
Currently, there are legislative plans to close this pathway into family insurance via partial pensions. However, these plans have not yet been implemented.
4. Statutory Health Insurance in Another EU Country
Anyone who wants to join statutory health insurance voluntarily in Germany must usually prove either:
at least 24 months of prior statutory insurance within the last five years, or continuous statutory insurance for the last 12 months
For people previously insured privately, voluntary membership in statutory health insurance is therefore not easily accessible.
The situation is different if someonw was recently either uninsured or insured under a statutory health system abroad.
Recently insured in statutory health insurance also includes state or statutory health insurance systems in other countries of the European Union, the European Economic Area, and Switzerland.
In these cases, people fall under the so-called mandatory fallback insurance (Auffangpflichtversicherung).
This entry into statutory health insurance arises by law.
What does “by law” mean?
This means that insurance coverage arises automatically once the legal requirements are met. However, the insurance obligation must still be reported to a statutory health insurance fund.
Once this has been done, insurance coverage begins from the first day of compulsory insurance — for example, from the date you re-establish residence in Germany.
You are then compulsorily insured within what is technically called voluntary insurance. Yes, that sounds confusing.
In this case, contact a statutory health insurance fund of your choice and notify them of your insurance obligation. Your contributions will then be calculated based on your income.
People over 55 years of age also benefit from this regulation.
You like our content?
Follow os un YouTube or donate a coffee on Ko-Fi:
Legal resources:
income thresholds
Voluntary insurance §9 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 SGB V
Partial Pension
"Old-age pensions may be paid either as a full pension or as a partial pension (§ 42 of the German Social Code Book VI). The share of a partial pension can be freely chosen for old-age pensions, provided it amounts to at least 10 percent and no more than 99.99 percent of the full pension.
The purpose of the partial pension is to facilitate the transition into retirement. With a partial pension, insured persons can determine to what extent they wish to continue working or retire. Earnings points acquired during the receipt of a partial pension or a full old-age pension increase the pension amount as of the end of the calendar month in which the statutory retirement age is reached and subsequently as of July 1."
Fallback insurance §5 Abs. 1 Nr. 13 SGB V
Comments