Even those who receive a statutory pension must continue to have health insurance. But pensioners cannot freely choose their insurance coverage. What applies at retirement age depends much more on how and how long someone was insured in their working life. As a pensioner you are either:
- compulsorily insured in the statutory health insurance for pensioners (KVdR),
- voluntary statutory health insurance,
- family insurance or
- insured with a private health insurer.
These contributions are due
Depending on how someone is insured when they have reached retirement age, health insurance contributions differ. Retirees cannot simply choose their insurance coverage. Our graphic shows what applies to which case.
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Previous insurance period is decisive
If a person was also privately insured in the meantime, it must be clarified whether their previous insurance periods are sufficient for the affordable health insurance for pensioners (KVdR). To do this, you have to have 90 percent statutory health insurance in the second half of your working life.
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This is how the previous insurance period is calculated
The calculation is accurate to the day and is very complex. Insured persons should contact their health insurance and pension insurance for this. For orientation: The period that is relevant for this begins on the first day of training and ends on the day on which the pension application is submitted. This period is divided into two equal halves, of which the second is decisive: For 90 percent of this time, the prospective pensioner must have been covered by statutory health insurance.
Example. A 58-year-old childless worker is expected to have around 47 years of work before she retires. The second half of her professional life begins in 2005. At the time of her pension application in 2029, she would have to have been with a health insurance company for around 21 years to complete the previous insurance period. However, since it has only been legally insured since 2014, it only lasts for around 15 years. If she had children, there would be three years of previous insurance for each child.
Tip: Since the previous insurance period is calculated exactly to the day, things can sometimes get tight. If only a few days are missing, this can be corrected if necessary, for example if the pension application is brought forward four weeks before the actually intended day. If in doubt, insured persons should seek advice from their health insurance company in good time before applying for a pension.
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