TheGoodBroker: Employees in Germany need a salary above €84,150 to choose private health insurance in 2027

Biggest rise in the income threshold for private health insurance since 2003; the maximum public health and long-term care contribution rises to €1,345 a month

BIELEFELD, NRW, GERMANY, November 5, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Employees in Germany will need an annual salary of more than €84,150 in 2027 to take out private health insurance. That is €6,750 more than in 2026 and the biggest rise since 2003. The new threshold was approved by the federal cabinet on 7 October 2026; the Bundesrat, the chamber that represents the German states, still has to give its consent. Jonas Marx, an insurance broker in Bielefeld who advises English-speaking professionals on private health insurance, explains what the change means for employees above and below the threshold.

The threshold, officially called the Jahresarbeitsentgeltgrenze, decides which employees may choose private health insurance. The threshold applies only to employees; self-employed people can choose private health insurance regardless of their income. An employee who starts a new job in Germany with a salary above the threshold can be privately insured from the first working day.

Germany has two health insurance systems, public and private. Employees are insured in the public system by law as long as their salary does not exceed the income threshold. Above it, they may choose private health insurance instead. Public contributions are a percentage of salary, up to a fixed maximum. A private premium depends on the age and health of the insured person when the policy starts and on the cover chosen, not on salary. Employers pay half of an employee's private premium, up to the maximum employer share of public health and long-term care insurance. The benefits of a private policy are written into the contract, while the cover of public insurance is set by law.

Public health insurance becomes more expensive for employees with higher salaries in 2027. The contribution ceiling, the salary up to which contributions are charged, rises from €69,750 to €76,500 a year under the cabinet decision. Each public insurer adds its own additional contribution to the general contribution rate. The Federal Ministry of Health has set the average additional contribution for 2027 at 2.9%, the same as in 2026. The figure was published in the Federal Gazette on 30 October 2026. In 2027, the maximum monthly contribution to public health and long-term care insurance, employee and employer shares combined, rises from €1,226.44 to €1,345.13 for members with children.

"Every employee who earns more than €84,150 in 2027 can choose between public and private health insurance," said Jonas Marx. "For international professionals, that choice applies from their first working day in Germany. For most of them, private health insurance is the better choice, and even more so in 2027, because the maximum public contribution rises by around €120 a month."

An English-language overview of all changes for 2027 is available in the article "What changes in German health insurance in 2027".

About TheGoodBroker

TheGoodBroker advises English-speaking clients on private health insurance in Germany, with a full market comparison and at no cost to the client. Jonas Marx founded the company in 2018, and it is based in Bielefeld. Advice takes place by video and is available to clients across Germany.

Jonas Marx
TheGoodBroker