Health insurance switch - what if they don't cover?

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
1
I'm thinking of switching health insurance, have some decent quotes and the KPT one looks good plus they don't have a limited list for the Hausarzt model.

But the forms seem to consist of effectively eight separate contracts, standard and supplemental insurance for each of the four family members.

I only want to move if they accept everything, or maybe they'll exclude something and that would be OK but I would need to think about it.

How does this work? And typically how long does it take to go through the checking process (a couple of us will tick a few of their "existing condition" boxes)?

TIA

2
You mean

'accept everything' (not except- I imagine).

All supplementaries will have exceptions due to re-existing conditions, age, and history. If have supplementary insurance which was contracted before you were diagnosed with any fairly serious condition- it will be covered. If you join another after you were diagnosed, you probably won't. So, just depends.

The whole thing with supplementary is that they charge fairly high premiums over many many years- before issues arise which they then have to pay for.

3
Thanks for the correction and info.

That was what I figured - sounds like moving would be potentially a problem, but my question is more around can I safely send the contracts back and still have the option to say no to everything if they do exclude things?

4
Check what you sign. Often this will be seen as signing the contract and you are stuck.

Depending on why you want the additional insurance you could also save the monthly fee and ‚upgrade‘ when you need it.

5
All insurers have to offer you basic insurance by law. They can only pick and choose who they accept for the supplemental insurance.

So apply for the supplemental cover you want and see what happens. Don’t cancel the existing contracts until you know that you can get the supplemental cover you want with the new insurance.

6
Yes I know that, the problem is that there is no obvious link between the eight contracts and therefore it looks like they could accept any combination of the supplemental options.

Someone must have had the situation where some part or some person in the supplementary section is rejected, so my question is what happens - do they reissue the whole thing with the new offer, or cherry pick what they accept and leave me to fill in the gaps?

I guess I could put a cover letter in saying I agree to everything or nothing, but it feels clunky for something which happens all the time.

7
some insurances have this as their options for example:

-only switch if all contracts are accepted

-only switch if all family members are accepted

If KPT does not, I would suggest you writing it in your cover letter for the application and ask them to contact you before concluding anything.

This is also better for you, because if they are thinking of refusing you, you can pull out yourself and not have an insurance refusal on record.

8
Note that in principle you don't have to have both basic and supplemental insurance with the same provider, you can keep your supplemental insurance with the current insurer and move only the basic insurance to the new one.

9
True, but I can see that being a mess. Particularly with the Hausarzt model - I've checked the lists of acceptable doctors from several companies, if you need to find one on two lists the options reduce significantly.

10

I have this. Also, my supplemental does not specify anything about a family doctor (I have a family doctor model in my obligatory insurance). If I were to switch now, I would switch only the obligatory; the supplemental was concluded more than a decade ago, back when I did not have any chronic issues, and I think a new insurer would not accept me now.

11
Whatever you do, don't cancel your existing supplemental insurances until you have been accepted by your new insurance for the supplemental. Supplemental health insurance is subject to regular insurance contracts and the company has no obligation to take you on or may have exclusions based on your medical record, whilst your existing supplemental will continue to cover you.

Having different basic and supplemental isn't really a problem as they largely cover different things. I've been in that situation for many years now.

12
It’s actually pretty easy, we’ve been doing it for years.

13

Anyone who has been accepted for supplementary insurance should be really really careful to mess around with it. Older people with pre-exisiting conditions are just refused, and that's it. A future question for any other health insurance will be 'have you ever been refused cover'- it sticks.

Only OP knows if s/he is quite a bit older than at the time of contract, and if s/he has in the meantime suffered any injury or acquired any health condition, or any in the family- that will truly put spanner in the works if trying to change.

14
You could request an Offerte, an offer, for all of you jointly as a family. They'll need some data for that, have them send you the forms as appropriate. An Offerte is a binding thing, should be valid for something like 14 days.

You probably have until the end of the month to give notice for your existing top-up insurances per the end of the year.

15
I got in touch with the provider and their reply was as I expected - they can't commit to anything if there are existing conditions without doing a risk profile.

So I'll go back to considering the offers for just compulsory cover, for which I think I have another couple of months before I have to give notice if I decide to move.

16
Indeed, if the premium changes (usually the case) you have until the end of Nov for the mandatory part. However, nothing keeps you from giving notice now already, every insurance has to accept you (including the existing one) for next year.

17

Why on earth groan Ennui?