Everyone residing in Germany needs to be insured one way or the other, so health insurance is one of the requirements when enrolling in a German university.
From 01.01.2022, according to § 199a SGB V, data transfer between universities and health insurance companies must take place exclusively electronically in both directions. This electronic procedure replaces the previous paper procedure. Within the student notification procedure (SMV), data subject to notification is exchanged between universities and health insurance funds. Health insurance funds report, for example, insurance status, changes of the health insurance fund, and information on outstanding contributions. The universities send information on the start and end of studies of the insured students.
Relevant contents of the SMV
Reporting obligations of health insurance companies:
M10: Insurance status (mandatory or exempt)
M11: Start of insurance after a change of health insurance fund
M12: Delay in payment of contributions
M13: Settlement of contributions in arrears
Registration obligations of the universities:
M20: Start of studies with semester start and day of enrolment
M30: End of studies with the end of semester and day of de-registration/termination
We are going to focus on the M10 Meldung. As mentioned, in order to issue you the enrolment certificate, your university is going to ask for the status report of your health insurance, and it can only come from a public provider. Meaning:
If you apply for public insurance through us, your insurance provider will confirm to the university that you are mandatory insured. This happens automatically right after you submit the application.
If you wish to stay on your home insurance (only for those from EU/EEA, Switzerland, the UK, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, or Tunisia), you have to reach out to a public provider, so they inform your university you already have a valid insurance. We are not a public provider, but you can reach out to TK on [email protected] and send the following:
Picture of the front and back of your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), or other respective document issued by your home insurance provider
Your name, address and date of birth
Name and address of your college/university in Germany
Start date of studies
Optional: Telephone number for queries
TK should send an M10 to your university within a week. Have in mind that this is not an exemption, rather just the confirmation or validation of your home insurance. If you start working (mini job, working student) or your home insurance ends at any point during your studies in Germany, you will have to pass to German insurance. You will still be allowed on student public insurance which will start either with your employment or ending of your home insurance.
If you apply for a short-term private insurance such as expat, you have to reach out to a public provider, so they inform your university that you are exempted from public insurance. We are not a public provider, so you will need to reach out to TK as well, in order to get exempted. We explain more in our article on exemption.