More than 40% of Germans avoid preventive health care. But these examinations make a lot of sense! We explain which treatments are worthwhile at what age and what distinguishes preventive examinations in private health insurance from public treatments.
In private health insurance, insured persons receive comprehensive benefits that exceed the basic benefits in public health insurance benefits catalog.
Depending on the chosen tariff, insured persons in private health insurance can adapt the benefits to their individual needs and place an emphasis, e.g. on preventive examinations or alternative practitioners.
What benefits does ottonova's private health insurance include? All information about our private health insurance and our different tariffs - find out now!
Although every insured person has a right to certain free preventive services from their health insurer, over 40% of Germans in public health insurance going to the doctor for checkups. This was the finding of a 2018 survey by the market research institute GfK. The preventive examinations perceived so sparsely differ by gender, by different age groups and by whether the patient has public or private insurance.
The costs for many examinations are borne by the public health insurance funds. But other than private health insurances they have age restrictions. These services are:
Private health insurers are also guided by the above-mentioned framework program. Their range of preventive and treatment services depends on the chosen tariff but is usually much broader.
These examinations are often additionally reimbursed by private health insurers:
Private patients also have advantages in terms of flexibility: they can often have their health checked regardless of their age and have the option of including alternative treatment methods in the range of services covered by their tariff - such as naturopathic treatments.
Unlike the public health insurance, ottonova reimburses most preventive examinations regardless of age or earlier.
The situation is different for patients with public health insurance: If they want to take advantage of special additional treatments for preventive care, things can get pretty unpleasant. As soon as so-called "IGeL" services are involved, patients with public health insurance are asked to pay.
We are not dealing with a prickly insectivore here. Individual health services - IGeL for short - are treatments that are not covered by public health insurance. As a result, people with public health insurance must pay for them out-of-pocket. And they pay a lot for the comprehensive preventive examinations: Every year, people with public health insurance pay around 1 billion euros for IGeL. Experts have been arguing vociferously for years about the benefits of these examinations - they could lead to unnecessary interventions; the consumer groups complain. The IGeL services are a sensible addition to the range of services offered by public health insurers, countered the German doctors' associations.
For privately insured patients, many benefits, and services that legally insured patients must pay for themselves are a matter of course anyway. However, the reimbursement and scope of preventive services depends on the individual insurance contract.
Before you choose a private health insurance plan, consider which preventive examinations make sense for you. Have you had any previous illnesses? Does your family tend to have certain medical conditions, such as diabetes or colon cancer? Voilà, you should include these preliminary examinations with the corresponding services in your private health insurance tariff.
You would like to have a check-up, but you are not sure which preventive examinations are covered by your private health insurance? Use the ottonova advantage and just ask: Our concierge service makes it easy!
You may not have to worry about glaucoma or diabetes when you're 20, and no one is likely to recommend a rubella vaccination when you're 40. Check-ups for early detection of diseases are related to the age at which the probability of certain diseases statistically increases.
Find out when which check-ups is recommended and what exactly is examined in our checklist.
You can of course get a disease earlier than it on average statistically appears first. That’s why ottonova doesn’t have age restrictions when it comes to preventative check-ups!
Prostate examinations and colonoscopies don't seem particularly pleasant at first glance, but they are the fountain of youth for your health. After all, in ten years' time you'll still want to be running dynamically past young joggers in the park - just like today. So, what are you waiting for? Go for a check-up and prevent diseases.
Espen Markus - originally from Norway - is sales agent in ottonova's English sales team. He's in contact with potential customers every day and answers Expats' questions about German health insurance.
Our ottonova team of experts has over 40 years of experience in private health insurance and answers questions about it every day. What are old-age provisions and for whom does private health insurance make sense? What is the actuarial interest rate and which tariff is right for you? They know!
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