These health insurance companies are now the cheapest

Everything is getting more expensive. Often including statutory health insurance. The average additional contribution will rise from 1.6 to 1.7 percent in the new year. As a result, 36 health insurance companies are increasing their contributions for the new year. 32 are leaving it unchanged, as Warentest found out.

The average additional contribution to statutory health insurance will rise from 1.6 to 1.7 percent in the new year. The additional contribution can be higher or lower than this, as each insurance company decides on the amount of the contribution individually. This offers insured persons potential savings when switching health insurance companies. Depending on their income, insured persons can save around 230 euros a year by switching to a low-cost health insurance fund, while high earners can even save over 400 euros a year.

36 statutory health insurance companies are increasing their contributions in the new year. This is the result of an evaluation by Stiftung Warentest, which compares the contributions and benefits of statutory health insurance companies in an online database. The increases are between 0.06 and 0.70 percentage points. Three health insurance companies are reducing their contributions at the turn of the year by 0.14 and 0.31 percentage points. 32 of the 71 health insurance funds open to all are keeping their contributions stable. According to the National Association of Health Insurance Funds, there are a total of 96 statutory health insurance funds in Germany, but not all of them are open to everyone, such as certain company health insurance funds.

In principle, the health insurance contribution is made up of the general contribution rate of currently 14.6 percent, which is the same for all health insurance funds, and the additional contribution, which is determined individually. Both the general contribution rate and the supplementary contribution are borne equally by employees and employers or pensioners and the pension insurance fund.

These health insurance funds, among others, have an additional contribution of less than 1.7 percent

AOK Baden-Württemberg (not eligible nationwide) 1.60 percent
AOK Bavaria (not eligible nationwide) 1.58 percent
AOK Bremen/Bremerhaven (not eligible nationwide) 1.38 percent
Audi BKK 1 percent
BKK Firmus 0.9 percent
BKK Freudenberg 1.50 percent
BKK Faber-Castell & Partner (not eligible nationwide) 1.10 percent
BKK Gildemeister Seidensticker: 0.9 percent
BKK Linde 1.5 percent
BKK Provita 1.49 percent
BKK VerbundPlus 1.35 percent
Bertelsmann BKK 1.4 percent
Bosch BKK 1.5 percent (not eligible nationwide)
Continentale Betriebskrankenkasse 1.6 percent
R + V Betriebskrankenkasse 1.4 percent
Energie-Betriebskrankenkasse 1.59 percent
IKK gesund plus 1.49 percent
MHplus (not available nationwide) 1.58 percent
Handelskrankenkasse (HKK) 0.98 percent
HEK-Hanseatische Krankenkasse 1.3 percent
Heimat Krankenkasse 1.3 percent
Techniker Krankenkasse 1.2 percent
Tui BKK 1.5 percent
WMF BKK 1.6 percent

So far, the cheapest health insurance company open nationwide for 2024 is BKK Firmus with a total contribution of 15.50 percent.

Simple change of health insurance fund

In principle, all health insurance companies can be freely chosen. Even if the insured person is already older or currently undergoing treatment. Provided that the health insurance fund is also available in the insured person's federal state. At the same time, switching health insurers has been made much easier from 2021: in theory, insured persons can now switch to a cheaper health insurer every year, similar to car insurance. For example, anyone who cancels at the end of January will be in a new health insurance fund on April 1.

If the health insurance company increases the additional premium, there is still a special right of termination at the end of the month in which the higher premium is charged for the first time. If regular notice of termination is given, this takes effect at the end of the month after next. Since January 2021, you are no longer tied to your insurance for 18 months as before, but only for 12 months, so you can theoretically switch every year. Switching has also become much easier: You simply register online with the new insurer and let your new employer know that you want to change insurers.

You do not have to cancel your contract with your old health insurance provider: The new health insurance fund will take care of this electronically. There is no insurance gap when switching. If you switch to a low-cost health insurance company, please note that you will have to pay tax on a little more income. Part of the savings will then also fall victim to tax. Those wishing to switch should also check whether the new, cheaper health insurance company also offers all the extra services they want, such as dental cleaning, osteopathy or homeopathy.