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Health Insurance required:
In order to apply for a resident permit in Germany, you must be in one of the following three health insurance:
– public health insurance (GKV)
– private health insurance (PKV)
– travel health insurance (RKV)
Which insurance to choose depends on your financial situation and occupation. When you first enter Germany, however, you should have a travel health insurance at the beginning (even if you will be later hired), otherwise, you are not insured until the visa is issued.
Employee
If you are an employee with monthly salary less than €4,800 (2017), you are obliged to be in a public health insurance. When you earn monthly €4,800 or more you can choose either public or private insurance.
Expats to European countries
Expats, who are going to stay in Germany up to 5 years and exempted from German social securities because of social insurance agreement with your country, can be insured by reasonable travel insurance. It costs from €58 per month. Check the plan ⇒ Care Expatriate
Company Owner, Freelancer, self-employed
As a company owner or self-employed, you can choose either public- or private-insurance. If you have family and children, public-insurance would be reasonable for you.
In some cases, you can even choose travel-health-insurance for the first 5 years if the officer of Ausländeramt (Foreigners Registration Office) allowed.
(Often said that company owner or self-employed must be insured by private-insurance but it’s not true. Even lawyers and tax adviser mention it. Maybe because they don’t know much about the topic or they get sufficient kickback from private insurance agency – there’s almost no kickback from public insurance if they recommend it.)
University Student
Student up to 30 years old can be insured by public health insurance, it costs about 83€ per month. If you are over 30, you have to have resident permission at least 366 days to be insured by public insurance.
Language Student and Working-Holiday in Germany and Austria
This group of people up to 35 years old can be insured by student tariff Care College, it costs from €28 per month. Check the plan ⇒ Care College
Travelers in Europe
Travelers to EU- and Schengen-agreement countries, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, we recommend the following plan
– stay up to 1 year: Care Economy from €30 per month
– longer than 1 year: Care Expatriate from €58 per month