Germany - medical insurance - help wanted

[sibble]

Hi to anybody living in Germany. My ss aged 15 lives in Frankfurt with his Grandparents. We have been told that he needs private medical insurance, it is a requirement in Germany. He has a British (as well as NZ passport). Can you let me know if it is a requirment and if so who you would recommend.

Many thanks
Sibble

His nationality won't play a role. Yes, you are obliged to pay for medical insurance here. I imagine he is attending school here. So he should be able to get ordinary medical insurance - what his grandparents have, as opposed to private which is more expensive and you don't really need it. Medical care/treatment is all of a high standard.

Used to be insured with the KKH - Kaufmaennische Krankenkasse for some reason and they were fine. There are bigger ones like AOK and Barmer Ersatzkasse and several more, they are all alright to the best of my knowledge. Now we are covered privately (family cover)paid for by dh's employer. Works a bit differently re payments but no major diff in quality.

I think they should just check with the medical insurance company the grandparents are insured through.

Thanks for that. I need to speak with dh as ss's Grandparents are working and do have cover but have asked us to pay for his separately as it's too expensive for them. I can't see why they can't top up theirs and we pay the difference. He is at school and when I googled info I could only find plans for the employed. School children seemed to be covered by the family. Oh well guess will have to speak with dh's ex in-laws to sort it out. Thanks again, will have a look at the names you have given.

actually sibble one of those organisations that arrange for dc to spend some time at schools abroad would know the answer to that. All children attending German schools for a period would be in the same position as your ss.

There is a big difference between the public and private insurances. AOK is the biggest public one, but my experiences with them are not good.

I started with AOK (public), but after around 6 months, I wanted to go to the dentist (c2000 euros for a broken tooth) and actually claim some money back from them, and they cancelled my subscription, and blatantly lied that I was never entitled to be ensured with them. It is pointless to argue with a German bureaucrat in German, so I just went private.
Also, when I was new in Germany, I took a medical receipt to AOK, and the woman said "that is more than 10 days old, we cannot refund you on that"
I was so naive about health insurance that I actually believed the lying cow, and never got the money back.

Im currently with an English firm that specialises in international health insurance, called Interglobal.
they have been OK for the past year.

things to check:
does your policy cover dental treatment?
does it cover glasses (usually only the expensive ones like AOK will do that)
does it cover you to be treated by any doctor? (some of the german ones only cover you to be seen by junior doctors, and there is a difference...)

Has your ss got pflichtversicherung, he is probably covered by his grandparents policy but it is worth checking.

Is it sorted out sibble?