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Insurance for inpatient hospices, hospice volunteer services and palliative care in Germany

Inpatient hospices in Germany care for people in their last days; hospice volunteer services do the same at home, often with dozens of volunteers. Mistakes weigh especially heavily here: a fall, a wrong dose of pain medication, a dispute with relatives. Many hospices are run by registered associations whose board members can be personally liable. This page shows what hospices and palliative care providers should insure and what it costs.

Insurance for hospices and palliative care

The question almost everyone asks first

Are our volunteers insured if they damage something during a visit?

Their own accidents are covered by statutory accident insurance. Damage volunteers cause to others is covered by the hospice's public liability policy, provided volunteers are explicitly included. Have that written into the policy, also for visits in private homes and care homes.

What goes wrong in this trade

  1. 01

    Falls and positioning

    Weak guests, transfers between bed and chair, repositioning against pressure sores: mistakes quickly lead to injuries.

  2. 02

    Pain medication

    Opioids, pumps and exact doses are part of daily work. A mix up has serious consequences.

  3. 03

    Volunteers in other homes

    Volunteers visit private homes, care homes and hospitals. Things get broken or a key goes missing.

  4. 04

    Association and board

    Many hospices belong to associations. The board is liable for errors with grants, taxes and contracts.

  5. 05

    Building and equipment

    Care beds, hoists, kitchen and building services: a fire or water damage hits a house whose guests cannot easily move.

Risk radar
Liability 5Fire and water 3Theft 2Cyber 3Downtime 2Health 4

Compared with other trades, 1 low to 5 high.

The insurance you need

Essential

Business liability

Pays for injury and property damage from care and companionship, including volunteers, lost keys and damage in other people's homes.

Strongly advised

D&O insurance

Protects the board of a hospice association if it is held personally liable for management errors.

Business contents

Replaces care beds, hoists, furniture and kitchen after fire, burst pipes, storm and burglary.

Commercial buildings

If the provider owns the building: rebuilding after fire, storm and water damage.

Cyber insurance

Helps after attacks on care records and billing, and with reporting duties for health data.

Depends on the business

What it costs: example prices

Premiums depend on the number of beds, staff and volunteers and on the value of building and contents. Volunteer services without their own house pay much less.

InsuranceExampleTypical range
Business liabilityHospice volunteer service with 40 volunteers and two coordinatorsabout €300 to €800 a year
Business liabilityInpatient hospice with ten beds and a care teamabout €1,500 to €4,000 a year
D&O insuranceHospice association, €1 million cover for the boardabout €400 to €1,000 a year
Business contentsContents of a ten bed house, €400,000about €700 to €1,600 a year

For comparison: Liability cover for a hospice volunteer service costs about as much a year as a training weekend for two volunteers.

Guide prices from our quoting practice, as of October 2026.

There are hardly any published tariff examples for hospices;

the sources below support the legal statements.

We obtain the exact quote for you.

Sources of the price examples

Our suggestions: three packages

01

Volunteer service

For: hospice association with volunteers and no house of its own

  • Business liability
  • D&O insurance
  • Cyber insurance

Together about €1,200 to €3,000 a year

Request this package

02

Inpatient

For: hospice with its own building, care team and volunteers

  • Business liability
  • D&O insurance
  • Business contents
  • Commercial buildings
  • Cyber insurance

Together about €5,000 to €12,000 a year

Request this package

03

Full cover

For: provider with hospice, home service and extra cover for people

  • Business liability
  • D&O insurance
  • Business contents
  • Commercial buildings
  • Cyber insurance
  • Group accident insurance

Together about €7,000 to €16,000 a year

Request this package

The worst day in a hospice

Five things that really happen in hospices and volunteer services, all on a single Thursday here. Tap through the day and see who pays.

Damage so far€83,200
  1. While being repositioned, a guest slips out of bed and breaks a shoulder.

    €20,000 · Paid by: Business liability

  2. A volunteer knocks a television off a cabinet in a family's living room.

    €1,200 · Paid by: Business liability

  3. Care records are encrypted; medication plans cannot be opened.

    €14,000 · Paid by: Cyber insurance

  4. A dishwasher hose bursts and floods the kitchen and dining room.

    €18,000 · Paid by: Business contents

  5. A funder reclaims a grant and demands it from the board personally.

    €30,000 · Paid by: D&O insurance

Which package would you have had?

Paid by insurance: €0
Out of your own pocket: €83,200

Illustrative amounts before any excess.

What is paid depends on the policy terms.

Practical tips from your broker

  1. Have volunteers explicitly included in public liability, also for visits outside the house.
  2. Name all activities in the policy: care, palliative care, bereavement support, counselling and training.
  3. Check cover for lost keys and for damage to things in your care, such as guests' aids.
  4. As an association, take out D&O cover for the board, especially if its members are unpaid.
  5. Keep complete records of medication, positioning and agreements with relatives.

Why NAMMERT for your business

We know charities and associations

Norman Nammert acts as an insurance broker and compares several insurers. We focus on volunteers, board liability and things in your care.

We know claims from practice

In boat insurance we handle claims ourselves. That experience goes into our advice.

Advice in English

House, service, board and vehicles with one contact person. Advice is free of charge; the insurer pays our commission.

Frequently asked questions

Questions and answers

Must a hospice in Germany have liability insurance?

No law requires it in general.

Anyone caring for very ill people should still have it;

otherwise the provider pays from its own assets.

How much does the health insurer pay in an inpatient hospice?

Under § 39a SGB V the statutory health insurer pays 95 percent of the eligible costs,

with long term care benefits counted towards it.

Are hospice volunteers covered by statutory accident insurance?

Yes.

People working unpaid, in particular as volunteers,

in health care or welfare are covered under § 2 (1) no.

9 SGB VII.

How much does liability insurance cost for a hospice?

About €300 to €800 a year for volunteer services,

about €1,500 to €4,000 for an inpatient hospice with ten beds.

These are guide prices from our quoting practice.

Does the board of a hospice association need its own cover?

D&O cover through the association makes sense,

because board members can be personally liable for management errors.

NAMMERT insurance broker

Request quotes for Hospice

The recommended covers are ticked.

Change what does not fit; we compare quotes, in English.

1Who is it for?
2Which insurance?

Choose as many as you like. For each one, the details an insurer needs for a quote appear below.

Personal

Business

3Details

Business liability insurance in Germany (Betriebshaftpflicht)

For example electrical installation in homes, café with outdoor seating, online shop for furniture

For example work at clients' sites, own products, exports to the US, parent company abroad

Directors and officers insurance in Germany (D&O)

Known circumstances must be disclosed, otherwise cover may be lost

Business contents insurance in Germany (Inhaltsversicherung)

For example café with bakery, accounting firm, car repair shop

At purchase price, 0 if no stock

For example flood cover, customer property, tools in vehicles, loss of income

Commercial buildings insurance in Germany (Gebäudeversicherung)

From a valuation or your current policy

For example flood cover, solar panels, loss of rent, planned refurbishment

Cyber insurance for businesses in Germany

Rule of thumb: cost of three to four weeks of downtime plus recovery

4Your current policy
5How can we reach you?

Related trades

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Who pays if a carer loses a patient's key?

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Why are our liability premiums rising when we hardly have any claims?

Boat or yacht? NAMMERT has its own cover concepts for boats, arranged by the same broker.

Boat insurance

Your broker: Norman Nammert, trading as NAMMERT.

Insurance broker licensed under section 34d(1) of the German Trade Regulation Act.

Broker register no. D-C08Q-TOSD4-37.

NAMMERT Assekuradeur GmbH is a separate company.

It does not arrange your contract.

Statutory disclosure (German) · Updated