Health insurance, broadcasting fee

Health insurance

Students under the age of 30 are generally required to have health and long-term care insurance. Therefore, the university requires a health insurance certificate before you enrol. We have summarised the most common cases below:

Family insurance
If both of your parents have statutory health insurance and you are under 25 years old, you are covered by your parents’ family insurance. However, you must note that you cannot regularly earn more than 470 € during the lecture period if you want to remain a member of the family insurance. If this is the case, your family insurance will end and you will have to insure yourself. If you have completed a recognised voluntary service (e.g. FSJ, FÖJ, voluntary military service, etc.), your insurance period can be extended by this period beyond your 25th birthday, but by a maximum of 12 months.

Private health insurance
If one of your parents is privately insured and has a higher income (monthly more than 1/12 of the annual income limit and higher than the total income of the other parent), you can be exempted from compulsory insurance within the first three months of your studies in order to take out private insurance. This can be particularly interesting if one of your parents is a civil servant and entitled to benefits, as you can then also benefit from the benefits (however, only as long as you receive child benefit, i.e. usually up to 25). However, this exemption is valid for the entire duration of your studies and possibly even beyond! This means that you will have to take out private insurance for the duration of the exemption (even if you drop out of the allowance at 25). At the moment, the only time you can cancel this exemption is between your Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees – but only as long as you are not enrolled for more than one month. The decision to be exempted should therefore be considered very carefully. If you decide against private health insurance, you will have to insure yourself.

Student health insurance
If you can no longer be insured through your family, but are still subject to compulsory insurance, you will be covered by student health insurance until you reach the age of 30 (since 2020, regardless of the number of semesters). The contribution is the same for all statutory health insurance funds and is calculated according to the BAföG maximum rate. It is currently €76.85 per month. On top of this comes the additional contribution, which can be set individually by each health insurance fund (in some cases, it depends on your income). You also have to pay the nursing care insurance contribution, which is currently 22.94 € or 25.57 € (for childless persons over 23) per month. If you receive BAföG at the same time, you will receive a health and long-term care insurance supplement of 109 €.

Voluntary insurance
If you can’t be insured as a student (any more), e.g. because you are over 30, you can take out voluntary health insurance. The contribution is based on your income. If you are also receiving BAföG, you can receive up to €84 (under 30) or €155 (over 30) per month as a subsidy. For more details, please contact your health insurance provider. You can also find detailed information here.

Broadcasting fee

Since 1 January 2013, every household has been liable to pay the broadcasting fee. The fee is currently €18.36 per month per household. The Studentenwerk Göttingen has provided the most important FAQs here.

Exemption & Reduction
An exemption or reduction is possible under certain conditions, both for social and health reasons. Social reasons include the receipt of social benefits such as BaföG. Health reasons apply to visually impaired people with a GdB (degree of disability) of at least 60, hearing-impaired or deaf people or people with a GdB of at least 80. The reduction/exemption can be applied for here, where you will also find further information. If you do not receive social benefits because your income is less than 18.36 € too high, you can also apply for exemption (submit BAföG rejection notice).

Important: The exemption does not apply to your flatmates! They also cannot simply register through you and then not pay. The exemption is only transferable in the case of registered civil partnerships and marriages, as well as in the case of assignment communities according to §19 SGB XII.

Note: We make every effort to ensure that the information is always up to date, complete and correct. Nevertheless, in case of doubt, the information cannot replace advice from the respective contact person.