Exemption from insurance
As insurance freedom in the German social security refers to exceptions to the generally valid social security contributions that are made for certain groups of people.
In social law a conceptual and legal distinction between particular is compulsory insurance , insurance freedom , liberation from compulsory insurance (regularly only to timely request,) and non-compulsory insurance .
The principle in German social insurance is compulsory insurance. This is based on the solidarity principle . According to this, all dependent employees are in principle obliged to take out health, long-term care and pension insurance as well as employment promotion (unemployment insurance). There are exceptions to this principle. These exceptions are standardized for the various branches in the respective book of the Social Security Code (e.g. health insurance § 6 SGB V ; employment promotion §§ 27 f. SGB III ; pension insurance § 5 SGB VI ).
According to this, by virtue of the express legal regulation, certain groups of people are exempt from insurance. These include, for example, civil servants or clergy, for whom their own security systems cover the risks of health (for civil servants only partially) and old age. Also, soldiers , marginally employed and unpaid interns are exempt from insurance.
- Income above the compulsory insurance limit
For employees to be exempt from compulsory insurance in the statutory health and nursing care if their regular yearly pay the compulsory insurance limit exceeds at least one year and will exceed perspective in the following year as well. This is not the case with pension and unemployment insurance; here only the contribution assessment is limited to a maximum value of the income subject to contributions.
Anyone who takes up employment in Germany for the first time and immediately earns a salary above the compulsory insurance limit in this employment is immediately exempt from insurance, but can voluntarily take out statutory health insurance , even if you previously had private health insurance.
Employees who were exempt from insurance because the annual income limit was exceeded , but who would be required to take out insurance due to the regular increase in this limit, can apply for exemption. This application must be submitted within three months.
- Marginally employed
Low income earners are not required to take out insurance: marginally employed persons are exempt from insurance (Section 7 I 1 SGB V). As family members, you are regularly insured free of charge . However, if they earn additional income that exceeds the limit for free family insurance, voluntary or private health insurance is advisable. Despite the non-existence of compulsory insurance, the employer has to pay flat- rate wage tax as well as flat- rate contributions to health insurance of 13% and to pension insurance of 15%. At the request of the employee, the pension insurance contributions can be increased to the regular contribution rate. In this way, he contributes to improving his later pension entitlement, but has to pay the additional amount himself.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Insured in the statutory health insurance. In: Online health insurance advice, www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de. Federal Ministry of Health, January 24, 2018, accessed on July 12, 2019 .