Insurance
Health insurance
Health insurance is compulsory in Germany for all international doctoral students and researchers as well as accompanying family members. If you need a residence permit in Germany, the immigration authorities require proof of health insurance.
We recommend that you contact your health insurance company in your home country before your departure in order to clarify whether your insurance cover is also valid in Germany. If this is not the case, we recommend that you take out travel health insurance to cover you for the first few days in Bamberg. After your arrival in Bamberg, we will be happy to help you find a suitable health insurance option.
Basically, there are two different types of health insurance, depending on the financing of your stay. You will find the relevant information below.
Private liabilty insurance
In Germany, everyone is held liable for damage they cause to third parties. Parents are liable for their children.
We therefore recommend that you take out private liability insurance if you are staying in Bamberg for a longer period of time in order to insure yourself against claims arising from damage caused unintentionally. Some health insurance companies offer a package in which liability insurance can be booked in addition. General information on liability insurance can be found on this page of EURAXESS.
Stay with a scholarship / self-financed
If you are coming to Bamberg on a scholarship or are financing your stay yourself, you will need to take out private health insurance. As a scholarship holder, we recommend that you enquire with your scholarship provider about possible agreements with private health insurance companies. Your scholarship may already include private health insurance.
Private health insurance is suitable for visiting researchers, doctoral students, scholarship holders and postdocs and their respective families.
The premiums and benefits of the individual insurances are sometimes quite different, so please inform yourself carefully before taking out a contract. Please also note the advice and information provided by the EURAXESS Network on this topic.
Exception: EU citizens with a scholarship / self-financed
For citizens of the European Union, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, different regulations may apply. If you have one of these citizenships, please enquire with the health insurance company of your home country. Detailed information can be found on this Euraxess page.
Staying with an employment contract
If you sign an employment contract with the University of Bamberg, you are generally required to have health insurance in Germany.
Up to a gross annual income of 64,350 � (compulsory insurance limit 2021) you have to insure yourself with a statutory health insurance company. For your membership, you will pay a fixed percentage of your income, which is the same for all statutory health insurance companies. Some health insurance companies also charge an additional contribution. Half of the health insurance contributions and any additional contributions are paid by the employees and half by the employers. The general contribution rate of the statutory health insurance is currently 14.6% for all insurance companies, and the average additional contribution is currently 1.3% (as of 2021). This means that as an employee you currently pay 7.3% and, if applicable, half of the additional contribution of currently 0.65% on average.
Spouses and children who come to Bamberg with you can be covered by the statutory health insurance free of charge.
If you have a regular gross annual income of more than 64,350 � (as of 2021), you can join both a statutory and a private health insurance scheme. However, since it is not easy to switch from a private to a statutory health insurance, this step should be taken carefully. There is no family insurance in the private health insurance scheme. All family members must be insured individually.
There is a wide choice of statutory and private health insurance companies. You can find a list of all statutory health insurance companies here (German only), and a list of all private insurance companies here (German only).
You will also find more information on Make it in Germany and Euraxess.