Sabbatical in Germany: what happens to your private health insurance
If you're thinking about taking a career break, travelling or going on a sabbatical, it's worth reviewing your health insurance before you take the step. In Germany you can't go without health coverage and, if you have private insurance, your situation can change quite a bit during a sabbatical.
Your coverage must stay planned
During a sabbatical you may pay the full premium, find an Anwartschaft worthwhile, or also need international insurance.
What a sabbatical is and why it affects your health insurance
A sabbatical is a career break agreed with your employer. It can last a few months or even a year. The catch is that, even if you stop working temporarily, health insurance in Germany is still mandatory and can't be improvised.
Your usual employment situation is interrupted
If the sabbatical is unpaid, you stop receiving a salary and your employer no longer contributes to your insurance in the same way. This changes the real cost of your coverage and means you need to review how your policy will work during that time.
Your residence and your coverage still matter
If you keep your residence in Germany, you can't go without health insurance. And if you also spend time abroad, you may need to combine the German solution with international medical coverage.
PKV doesn't pause on its own
Having private health insurance doesn't mean the policy stops automatically during your career break. You need to review the contract and weigh whether it's better to keep full coverage, reduce it, or protect your right to return.
Your options if you have private insurance during a sabbatical
There's no single solution that works for everyone. The best option depends on how long the sabbatical lasts, whether you'll stay in Germany or go abroad, your budget, and whether you want to keep your current terms intact.
Keep your private insurance
The simplest option if you want to stay covered in Germany
You can keep your private health insurance exactly as before, but paying the full cost yourself. It's a convenient option because you don't have to switch systems or reorganise your coverage afterwards.
- You keep the health coverage of your current plan.
- You don't switch systems or complicate your return to work.
- You stay covered in Germany without interruptions.
- The main drawback is that you pay 100% of the premium.
Pause it with an Anwartschaft
Very useful if you're going to travel or spend time abroad
An Anwartschaft isn't full medical coverage, but a way to keep your right to return later to private insurance without starting from scratch. It's usually the most useful solution when you temporarily leave Germany or want to reduce costs.
- It protects your future access to private insurance.
- It can help you return without a full new medical assessment.
- The premium is usually much lower than keeping the insurance active.
- You usually also need travel or international insurance.
Temporarily change your coverage
Only in specific cases and always reviewing the consequences carefully
In certain situations there may be system changes or temporary solutions, but this isn't the simplest route. You need to check carefully whether you'd lose accrued benefits or complicate your later return to your original situation.
- It can reduce costs in specific scenarios.
- It isn't always available or worthwhile in the long term.
- The legal and contractual side should be studied very carefully.
- We only recommend it after analysing the individual case.
What happens to your private health insurance during a sabbatical
When you stop working temporarily, your situation resembles that of someone who no longer has a regular salary. If your sabbatical is unpaid, the employer subsidy disappears and, from then on, the cost of the insurance falls on you.
In other words: your PKV contract doesn't disappear on its own. What changes is who pays and how that coverage is maintained. That's why many people discover too late that keeping the insurance active can turn out to be quite a bit more expensive than they thought.
And if you're going to spend several months outside Germany, it's worth checking whether you really need full private coverage during that period or whether it makes more sense to keep your right to return through a lighter solution and combine it with international health insurance.
What matters isn't only paying less
The goal shouldn't only be to lower the premium, but to protect your situation in the medium term. A bad decision during the sabbatical can complicate your return, make your insurance more expensive, or cause you to lose benefits from your current contract.
Important: you can't go without health insurance
One of the most common mistakes is thinking that, because you stop working temporarily, you can simply cancel your insurance. That's not the case. If you keep your residence in Germany, health insurance remains mandatory. And even if you're going to leave the country, cancelling without a clear strategy can make your return much harder or create costs you could have avoided.
How to organise your insurance before, during and after the sabbatical
To make sure everything goes smoothly, it's worth planning ahead. This is the practical structure we recommend following before making a decision.
Before the sabbatical
Ideally: 2-4 months before
- Confirm with your employer exactly how the break will work and whether there will be a salary.
- Check whether you'll keep your residence in Germany or whether there will be a temporary stay abroad.
- Ask your insurer or broker in good time what options you have with your PKV.
- Compare whether it suits you to keep full coverage or activate an Anwartschaft.
During the sabbatical
Throughout the break
- If you keep the PKV, you have to cover the full premium while there's no employer contribution.
- If you use an Anwartschaft, you'll need to check carefully what real health coverage you'll have during that time.
- If you travel, make sure you have international insurance suited to your destination and duration.
- Keep all the important documentation for your return: policies, certificates and correspondence.
After the sabbatical
When you return to work or to Germany
- Check when your employer's contribution to your insurance starts again.
- If you chose to pause your insurance, arrange the reactivation in good time.
- Make sure all the contract details and your employment situation are up to date.
- If your personal situation has changed, take the chance to review whether your current plan still makes sense.
What costs to consider during a sabbatical
The financial impact depends on the solution you choose. The key is to understand that the price of a sabbatical isn't only the trip or the career break: how your health insurance is arranged during that time counts too.
If you keep the full private policy, you normally pay the entire premium once the employer contribution disappears.
It's usually quite a bit cheaper than keeping full insurance, although it doesn't replace international medical coverage if you go abroad.
If you leave Germany, you may need a specific policy for abroad depending on destination, duration and level of coverage.
The best option isn't always the cheapest per month. You also have to weigh the return, the retained rights and future protection.
Frequently asked questions about sabbaticals and private insurance in Germany
These are some of the most common questions when someone with PKV is considering a career break.
We'll help you choose the best option for your sabbatical
Every case is different. We analyse your situation, your current insurance and your plans during the break to tell you clearly what suits you best: keeping your PKV, protecting your return with an Anwartschaft, or considering another alternative.