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Health insurance while studying in Germany

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Illustrated Health Dictionary (PDF, 1.75 MB) (published by Deutsches Studentenwerk)

Anyone studying in Germany must have health insurance. There is a general obligation to take out health insurance in Germany. You should therefore take care of your health insurance as early as possible.

All students at the university must provide proof of their health insurance status. You cannot be enrolled at a German university without proof. You must therefore provide proof of your health insurance status by the time of enrollment at the latest.

How to do that and how to get health insurance is explained on this page.

If your health insurance from abroad is not recognized in Germany, take out health insurance soon after your arrival in Germany. To do this, present your letter of acceptance to the health insurance company of your choice. They will provide you with all necessary information. A list of statutory health insurance companies is available here

You can also take out health insurance during our Welcome Hub

There is a special student health and nursing care insurance for a particularly low tariff. The statutory health insurance companies offer a rate of approximately 110 euros per month for students up to the age of 30. The statutory health insurance companies are obliged to offer you that special rate.

Those who are already 30 years old can usually no longer be insured via the low tariff for students. Nevertheless, even in this case, the general health insurance obligation applies to everyone residing in Germany. In any case, you must notify the University of your insurance status prior to enrollment.

FOR ALL APPLICANTS: The University requires proof of your insurance status from a German statutory health insurance company at the latest for enrollment. We are not allowed to enroll you without this proof.

Germany has social security agreements with a number of countries. This applies, for example, to most EU and EEA countries. Such agreements also currently exist with some countries outside the EU. Please ask your health insurance company whether this applies to your country. If a social security agreement exists, your health insurance can be recognized by a statutory health insurance company in Germany. For this, you usually need the EHIC from the EU/EEA. All others can obtain the necessary documents for recognition from their health insurance company in their home country.

Foreign private health insurances are sometimes recognized. Contact a statutory health insurance company to see if this applies for your health insurance.

We would like to point out that your foreign insurance may not always cover the full costs of services that you receive in Germany! Therefore, please contact your foreign health insurance company to find out which services are covered in Germany!

FOR ALL APPLICANTS: The University requires proof of your insurance status from a German statutory health insurance company at the latest for enrollment. We are not allowed to enroll you without this proof.

FOR ALL APPLICANTS: The University requires proof of your insurance status from a German statutory health insurance company at the latest for enrollment. We are not allowed to enroll you without this proof.

To do this, submit an "Application for Confirmation of Insurance" to a statutory health insurance company. Give the number H0001356 to the health insurance company. This is the sender’s number of Osnabrueck University. The statutory health insurance then informs the University automatically and digitally with a so-called M10 whether you have

  • statutory health insurance, or
  • are exempt from compulsory insurance in the statutory health insurance (over 30/your health insurance from abroad was recognized)*

You will also receive a letter from the health insurance company. This letter informs you, what the statutory health insurance company has communicated to Osnabrueck University.

*At the moment the change to the digital notification procedure is still new. Therefore, if the statutory health insurance company does not yet automatically inform the University about the status of your exemption, please ask for a certificate of exemption in paper form and submit it to Osnabrueck University.

You can find more detailed information on health insurance here

Please note

We strongly recomend that you take out private liability insurance for your stay in Germany.

More information about insurance is available from the International Office.