The Premium Keeps Running
Your PKV premium is due whether or not you are working, so a long illness does not pause it. What changes is how it gets paid. While your employer continues your salary in the first weeks of illness, the employer subsidy toward your premium continues too. Once statutory sick pay from the health system takes over, the picture shifts, and this is where planning matters.
How the Pieces Interact
- Employer salary period: your pay and the employer subsidy continue as normal.
- After that: employees receive a sickness allowance, and the arrangement for the premium share changes.
- Daily sickness benefit: a Krankentagegeld tariff pays you a daily amount to replace lost income, which is how many members bridge the gap.
- Self-employed members: have no employer stage at all, so a daily sickness benefit is the main protection.
The protection to check now: Krankentagegeld replaces income during a long illness. Employees and the self-employed both benefit from setting the daily amount to match what they would lose, before illness strikes rather than after.
If Money Gets Tight
If paying the premium becomes hard during a long illness, contact your insurer early. Options can include adjusting your tariff, raising the excess, or moving temporarily to a lower-cost tariff line under your Section 204 rights. Falling into arrears is the outcome to avoid, because it can push you toward the emergency tariff. Sorting a daily sickness benefit while healthy, and talking to the insurer at the first sign of strain, keeps you in control.
Frequently Asked Questions
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