Everything that students need to know about applying for an exemption from mandatory health insurance during their studies in Germany

Students who begin their course of studies at a German university are generally subject to mandatory public health insurance for students (KVdS). They must therefore contact a public health insurance fund to apply for membership.

The public health insurance fund will check the statutory requirements. If prospective students indicate that they have purchased private health insurance for Germany for the duration of their course of studies, they will also inform them about submitting an application for exemption from mandatory health insurance.

As a prospective student, when your enrol you must provide proof that you are either insured with a statutory health insurance provider or that you are exempt from the mandatory insurance and are covered by another form of health insurance, such as private health insurance, in the event of illness.

More specifically, you must apply for the compulsory health insurance exemption within three months of starting your studies. If you miss the application deadline, you will only be able to be insured as a student through the statutory health insurance scheme.

The exemption is generally comes into effect retroactively from the start of the mandatory insurance requirement. However, if you or your family members with family insurance have made a health insurance claim after the start of your mandatory insurance requirement, the exemption only applies from the start of the month following your application.

You can apply for the exemption from mandatory health insurance for students through any health insurance provider. With Barmer, you can do it conveniently online.

Apply online now

Once you have submitted your application, we will immediately inform your university digitally. You will then receive your letter of exemption by post.

A decision to be exempted from the mandatory health insurance scheme for students should be considered carefully. The exemption cannot be revoked and applies for the full duration of your studies, meaning that you cannot apply for coverage from other health insurance providers.

Once an exemption has been granted, privately-insured students can no longer switch to a statutory health insurance provider during their studies.

If you take on an unpaid internship or are initially unemployed after graduating, for example, you will still have to pay your private health insurance (private Krankenversicherung, or PKV, in German) premiums.

As a privately-insured student, the exemption from mandatory insurance can result in significantly higher costs than if you opt for statutory health insurance.

The exemption from the mandatory health insurance scheme for students scheme cannot be revoked, and lasts for the full duration of your studies without interruption.

If, for example, you go straight on to study for a Master’s degree after completing your Bachelor’s degree, the exemption shall remain in place. However, if your second course of study does not immediately follow on from your first and the interruption is longer than one month, the exemption will end. 

If you have been exempted from the health Insurance for students scheme, you can only switch to statutory health insurance (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung, GKV) in certain cases – for example, if

• you take up employment subject to mandatory insurance as an employee during or after your studies,
• or your second degree does not immediately follow on from the first degree that you have completed – although the interruption must be more than one month.

Good to know: prospective students with private health insurance can cancel their private insurance contract with immediate effect at the start of their studies and switch to the more favourable health insurance scheme for students. This allows them to benefit from the more favourable rates of the health insurance scheme for students.

More information on switching to statutory health insurance is available here.

More information about switching mandatory health insurance. 

No. You cannot revoke an exemption from the mandatory health insurance. It also applies to all statutory health insurance providers.

As a general rule, an exemption from mandatory health insurance is neither necessary nor possible under the following circumstances:

• You are attending a pre-university language course, pre-university college or a pre-university or introductory seminar.
• You are starting a doctoral programme after successfully completing your Master’s degree, undergraduate degree or state examination.
• You are taking up a master class or graduate study course.
• You are attending university as an auditing student.
• You do not come from Germany, but from another EU or EEA member state, Switzerland or the United Kingdom, or a country which has a bilateral health insurance agreement with Germany.
• You receive benefits from the German Federal Employment Agency.
• You work as a farmer or an artist.
• You have a job that requires you to work more than you study, for example if you regularly work more than 20 hours a week.
• You will complete your studies after the age of 30.
• You are studying at a University of the Federal Armed Forces or a University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration and Legal Affairs.
• You are entitled to family health insurance coverage.