Insurances

There are various social insurances in Germany. Some of them are mandatory, like a health insurance, while others are optional but also recommended.

 

Mandatory Insurances

There are various social insurances in Germany, the following three are automatically deducted from your wage and are mandatory:

Health insurance (Krankenversicherung):

You can choose your own health insurance company. Once you have done so please contact the insurance company and register yourself with them. For most insurance companies online registration is possible as well. All public health insurances cover the basic needs, i.e. health, dental and vision. Additional benefits of some insurances include free professional teeth cleaning, travel vaccinations and other health enhancements. The assistant of your team can offer some suggestions on the most commonly used insurance companies.

You will need Health Insurance on your first day of work/ in order to sign the contract!

Unemployment insurance (Arbeitslosenversicherung):

This is a standard insurance which will pay a certain percentage of your current wage for a few months up to two years, if you become unemployed after the position at MPQ finishes.

Nursing insurance (Pflegeversicherung):

The purpose of this insurance is to care for the elderly people including you, once you are an elderly person requiring assistance.

 

Recommended Insurances

There are two private insurances (you can buy them at various insurance companies) that are strongly recommended:

Private liability insurance (Privathaftpflichtversicherung):

In case you accidentally break something or cause an accident to somebody, you are liable to pay. This can result in extraordinary costs for you and lawsuits. It is not that expensive (<60-100€/year).

Travel health insurance (Reisekrankenversicherung / Auslandskrankenversicherung):

Your regular health insurance is not enough for travellig abroad (not even within the EU, although your EHIC card will provide you with many services). Travel health insurance usually covers arbitrary number of trips up to 25 days or so in length each and costs <40€-100€/year. The EHIC card should cover you within the EU to the level of the member state you’re in (i.e., if locals have to co-pay, so do you). Independent of this, if you fall sick abroad on a business trip and incur additional costs which you would not have had at home, your employer (MPQ) has to reimburse those costs, which may take a while. Most travel insurance is available for <20€/year. )

 

Other Insurances

Of course there are also many other kinds of insurances available at the market. Two we would love to mention for Germany are:

DAV  (insurance of the german alpine association for mountain loving people)

ADAC (car breakdown and accident assistance in Germany and Europe)