Has the JAEG overtaken you? Take your last chance to switch now!

The annual income limit (German: Jahresarbeitsentgeltgrenze or short JAEG) determines the income from which an employee can switch to private health insurance (German: private Krankenversicherung or short PKV.

If the regular annual gross income is above this limit, you can take out private health insurance (PKV) because you are exempt from insurance. However, if it is below this limit, employees are compulsorily insured under the statutory health insurance scheme.

Voluntary statutory employees who earn between €69,300 and €73,799 per year in 2024 will now lose the option of switching to private health insurance from 2025, as they now earn below the JAEG and are therefore subject to compulsory insurance.

However, they can be exempted from compulsory insurance until March 31, 2025 and switch to private health insurance.

If you were previously exempt from insurance in 2024 because your income was above the annual income limit and suddenly become subject to compulsory insurance from 2025 due to the increase in this limit because the annual income limit is now higher than your income, there is still an option to switch to private health insurance, even if you no longer reach the new income limit.

You can be exempted from compulsory insurance until 01.03.2025.

An example

• An employee earns 70,000 euros gross in 2024 and is therefore above the 2024 income limit (69,300 euros). He has voluntary statutory insurance.
• The JAEG is raised to 73,800 euros for 2025. His income is now below the new income limit, so he would actually be compulsorily insured in statutory health insurance again from 2025 and can no longer switch to private insurance.
• He can apply for exemption from the new compulsory insurance by 01.03.2025.

You can apply for exemption under these conditions:

• You were exempt from insurance in 2024 (because you were above the old JAEG).
• You had private health insurance in 2024 or were voluntarily covered by statutory health insurance
• You submit an application for exemption from compulsory insurance by March 1, 2025.

This allows you to be exempted from compulsory statutory health insurance:

• The application is submitted to the statutory health insurance fund with which you were insured in 2024 (or with which you would be subject to compulsory insurance from 2025).
• The application must be submitted by March 1, 2025 at the latest.
• This means you can still switch to private health insurance until March 1, 2025.

Your decision is final. If you are exempted, you cannot simply switch back to statutory health insurance later in the year as long as your employment relationship is not interrupted for more than one month. Under these circumstances, the exemption also applies to the next employment relationship. However, if the gap between the two jobs is longer than one month, the exemption no longer applies.

The exemption takes effect from the start of compulsory insurance if you have not claimed any benefits since that time. Otherwise, it takes effect from the beginning of the calendar month following the application. For example, if you claim a benefit under statutory health insurance in January, then you can only be exempted from February and switch to private health insurance.

In Germany, the contribution assessment ceiling (German: Beitragsbemessungsgrenze or short BBG) determines the maximum income level used to calculate your contributions to statutory health insurance (German: gesetzliche Krankenversicherung or short GKV). If the BBG rises, the maximum contribution also rises.  

In 2025, the statutory health insurance contribution will therefore increase for anyone earning more than 62,100 euros (gross) per year or 5,175.00 euros (gross) per month. Salaried employees pay 14.6 percent of their income (up to the maximum BBG).

In addition to the 14.6 percent, each individual statutory health insurance fund can set its own additional contributions. On average, these amounted to 1.7% of salary up to the contribution assessment ceiling (BBG) in 2024. In 2025, the average additional contribution rose to 2.5 percent. 

In addition, there is the contribution for long-term care insurance, the amount of which also depends on income (up to the maximum BBG). The nursing care contribution was also increased by 0.2 percent and will affect every member of the statutory health insurance fund.

Compared to the previous year, employees will pay an average of 9.7 percent more statutory health insurance contributions in 2025. The pure public health insurance maximum contribution for you rose to 804.83 euros per month on 01.01.2025 if you earn over the contribution assessment ceiling of 66,150 euros (gross) per year. Including the average additional contribution and long-term care insurance, this year it is €1,174.16 per month for insured persons over the age of 23 without children.

As your employer contributes to your health insurance contributions (employer subsidy), as an employee you only pay around 50 percent of the contributions yourself (employee contribution). However, the total costs for statutory health insurance could still rise by around 754 euros (gross employee contribution) per year for you next year.

Contributions to statutory or public health insurance, including long-term care insurance and the average additional contribution, have risen steadily in recent years. Between 2015 and 2025 alone, the average monthly contributions to statutory health insurance increased by 427 euros.

In private health insurance, your contributions are not calculated based on your income, but on your age, your state of health and your desired benefits. This can mean potential savings of several thousand euros on your premiums for you.