Medical reimbursement in Germany

The public health insurance system (GKV)

Reimbursement is straightforward for people with public health insurance because their doctor will bill their health insurance provider (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung or short GKV) directly. People with public health insurance do not have to pay when visiting their doctor – but they do have to make small co-payments for certain healthcare services, including:

• €5-10 per prescription
• €10 per day in hospital
• €5-10 per day of nursing care

The public system also tends to cover fewer treatments and services as standard. For example, people with public health insurance often take out additional private insurance policies (Zusatzversicherungen) to cover dental care, vaccinations and homeopathy.

 

The private health insurance system (PKV)

In the private system, you pay your doctor directly for their services. Therefore, some people worry that they have to pay medical bills upfront, but that's not the case:

1. If you choose an efficient private health insurance (private Krankenversicherung or short PKV) your bill gets reimbursed before the money has to be at the doctor's office.
2. When it comes to higher bills for example for an inpatient hospital treatment there is the possibility that the private health insurance provider pays the costs directly to the hospital.
3. Just be sure to check with your provider that a treatment is totally eligible before you go ahead. With some treatments you even have to get in touch with your private health insurance to have the costs approved beforehand. If you need dental implants or other dentures, for example, you have to submit a treatment and cost plan.
    

Did you know that private insurance providers can cover more treatments and services than public providers, sometimes including non-prescription medications, private hospital rooms, and chief-physician treatments?

 

What makes the reimbursement process with ottonova special?

ottonova is Germany’s first fully digital private health insurance provider. This means you can manage your healthcare at your convenience using the ottonova app. When a doctor issues a bill, simply use the document upload function in the ottonova app – and we’ll start processing it straight away! So you can have eligible expenses reimbursed before the bill is due.