🩺 Health insurance for students
In brief
For health insurance during studies there are essentially three stages: Until your 25th birthday you can, subject to certain income conditions, remain insured free of charge through a parent under family insurance (§ 10 SGB V). After that – or if the income limit is exceeded – regular students up to their 30th birthday fall under the reduced-rate compulsory student insurance in statutory health insurance (§ 5 Abs. 1 Nr. 9 SGB V). If you are older or have considerably exceeded the standard period of study, you move to voluntary statutory or private insurance.
Step by step
- Check family insuranceAs long as you are under 25 and your income does not exceed the marginal earnings threshold, family insurance is usually the cheapest option.
- Submit proof of insurance to the universityFor enrolment or re-registration, an electronic notification from your health insurance fund to the university is required.
- Switch to compulsory insurance in good timeFamily insurance ends at the latest on your 25th birthday; register with your health insurance fund for compulsory student insurance in good time.
- Keep an eye on the end of compulsory student insuranceAt 30, or if the standard period of study is considerably exceeded, the reduced-rate compulsory insurance ends; find out about the follow-on costs early.
- Check working student employment separatelyDepending on its scope, a part-time job can put family insurance at risk or trigger the working student privilege.
Deadlines
- If you lose family insurance through a part-time job above the marginal earnings threshold, you are not informed automatically – you should keep track of your own income yourself.
- The switch from family insurance to compulsory student insurance at 25 does not happen automatically free of charge: from then on you pay your own contribution, albeit a reduced one.
- If you are over 30 or have considerably exceeded the standard period of study, you often pay significantly more as a voluntarily insured person than the reduced student rate.
- According to health insurance funds, a later switch from private health insurance to the low-cost compulsory student insurance of the statutory funds is only possible to a limited extent – the decision at the start of studies should be considered carefully.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Compulsory student insurance (§ 5 Abs. 1 Nr. 9 SGB V)
Regular students at state or state-recognised universities are compulsorily insured as long as they are not covered by family insurance and no overriding grounds for exclusion apply. For the exact amount of the monthly contribution (health plus long-term care insurance), secondary sources gave different but closely clustered figures; a value for September 2026 individually verified against contribution law is therefore not stated here – the current amount is provided by every statutory health insurance fund on request.
Family insurance (§ 10 SGB V)
One condition is that the child's total income does not regularly exceed a marginal earnings threshold; this threshold is linked to the current minijob limit and is therefore adjusted regularly.
Working student privilege as a special case
A working student job can exclude compulsory health, long-term care and unemployment insurance arising from the employment (see the separate topic page); this concerns the insurance from the job, not the compulsory student health insurance as such.
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