Hospitalisation insurance

Hospitalisation insurance through your employer covers hospital admission costs that the mutual insurance does not reimburse: a single room, fee supplements, and often outpatient costs before and after the admission. As a group policy it is far cheaper than what you would pay privately.

What exactly does it cover?

The core is the hospital bill: room supplements (especially in a single room, fee supplements can run to 100 percent or more), material and medication costs during the admission. Good policies also cover outpatient costs in a period before and after the admission (often 1 to 2 months before and 3 to 6 months after) and serious illnesses with a separate, broader cover. Read the policy: deductible, room choice and the annual ceiling differ widely.

Why through the employer?

A group policy has no individual medical questionnaire, often accepts existing conditions without exclusion and costs the employer a few dozen euros per month where an individual family policy quickly costs double or more. Family members can usually join at a favourable rate (sometimes at own cost). For you the benefit is tax-free.

What about dismissal or retirement?

If you leave the company, you have the legal right to continue the policy individually without new medical formalities, provided you were insured in the preceding years; you then pay the (higher) individual premium. To hedge that, you can take a waiting policy during your career that locks the later individual premium at the younger entry rate. Compare the whole package in our pay package guide.