Statutory health insurance providers have been warning for months that they are struggling with finances.Â
As we reported in December, Germany's largest health insurer Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) announced that it was raising the additional contribution rate (Zusatzbeitrag)Â for its more than 11 million members to 2.45 percent - up from the previous rate of 1.2 percent.Â
And now we have an idea of how much other health insurers are hiking up their rates.Â
READ ALSO: German health insurer TK to significantly hike insurance contribution
Health insurances bosses have been blaming the increases on the increasing cost of healthcare, particularly in the hospital and pharmaceutical sectors.
It comes after the German Health Ministry announced an average additional contribution rate of 2.5 percent - 0.8 percentage points more than in 2024.
The government rate is a suggestion that the health insurance organisations can deviate from. And it looks like many of the rates have gone up even higher.Â
The cost of public health insurance (known as gesetzliche Krankenversicherung or GKV in German) is a fixed percentage of what you earn.Â
People who are publicly insured pay around 14.6 percent of their gross salaries every month to their public provider - for example TK, AoK or Barmer. If the worker is employed by someone else, their employer pays half this cost while they pay the other half.
An additional contribution rate is levied on top of this amount - and half of this is also paid by the employer for those in a fixed job.Â
Self-employed people often have to pay the full coverage, although there are exceptions in certain creative professions.
How much are costs going up?
An analyses by the information portal Gesetzliche Krankenkassen found from start of 2025, there are 93 statutory health insurance organisations in Germany. Of these 93:
- A total of 82 insurers increased their contributions
- 11 health insurance funds kept their contributions unchanged, most of which had already increased their contributions in recent months
- No health insurance funds reduced their contributions
- Six health insurance organisations charge exactly 2.5 percent as an additional contribution.However, 64 health insurers charge significantly more - up to 4.4 percent
The statutory health insurance companies with the largest increases in the additional contribution are led by Mobil Krankenkasse.
READ ALSO: How German political parties want to end soaring social contributionsÂ
The company's additional contribution was 1.49 percent in 2024, while it has risen to 3.89 percent in 2025, information site Germany-Visa reported.
This means that Mobil Krankenkasse customers had to pay €44.70 (1.49 percent of an example gross income of €3,000) per month in 2024, but will have to pay €116.70 (3.89 percent €3,000) in 2025. The difference compared to the previous year is 2.4 percentage points.
READ ALSO:Â The big healthcare changes in Germany in 2025
Aside from TK, here's a look at some of the other larger health insurance organisations' new additional contribution rates:
Barmer: 3.29 percentÂ
DAK Gesundheit: 2.80 percent
AOK Baden-WĂĽrttemberg: 2.60 percent
AOK Bavaria: 2.7 percent
AOK Bremen/Bremerhaven 2.5 percent
AOK Hessen: 2.5 percent
AOK Niedersachsen 2.7 percent
AOK Nordost: 3.5 percent
AOK NordWest: 2.8 percent
AOK PLUS 3.1 percent
AOK Rheinland/Hamburg: 3 percent
AOK Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland: 2.5 percent
Which health insurers offer the cheapest additional contribution rates?
Health insurance funds open nationwide (in all federal states) offering the cheapest rates are:
- BKK firmus with an additional contribution of 1.84 percent
- hkk Krankenkasse: 2.19 percent
- Audi BKK: 2.40 percent
Regional health insurers (open only to those in certain states) with the cheapest additional rates:
- BKK Faber-Castell & Partner (only for Bavaria): 2.18 percent
- BKK Public (only for Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia): 2.30 percent
- BKK exklusiv (only for Bremen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein): 2.39 percent
How do you change your health insurance provider in Germany?
If your health insurance company raises the additional contribution, those insured have a special right of termination until the end of the month when the increase has taken effect. In this case it's January 31st, 2025.
Insured people can apply to join a new provider up until this date, and they will then become a member of the new health insurer from April 1st after the statutory two month change-over period has expired.
Insured people also have the right to change their statutory health insurance fund every 12 months.
READ ALSO:Â Â How can I change my German health insurance provider?
Comments