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Practice interruption insurance: keeping your practice afloat while you are ill

In a single-handed practice in Germany, income depends on one person. If the doctor, dentist or therapist is off sick, fees stop, but salaries, rent, equipment leases and loan repayments do not. Practice interruption insurance (Praxisausfallversicherung) pays an agreed daily amount or the proven fixed costs during that time. It sits between two other policies and replaces neither of them.

The question almost everyone asks first

How is this different from daily sickness benefit?

Daily sickness benefit (Krankentagegeld) is health insurance for your personal income, the money you live on. Practice interruption insurance covers the running costs of the practice: staff, rent, leases and interest. Both pay when you cannot work, but into different pots, and daily sickness benefit can only be insured up to your actual income. Business interruption insurance (Betriebsunterbrechung) is different again: it only pays after physical damage such as a fire or a burst pipe, not when you are ill.

Three policies, three purposes

Practice owners in Germany often mix up three contracts that all deal with loss of income. Daily sickness benefit is part of health insurance and protects your own earnings. Business interruption cover is property insurance and pays lost profit after a fire, flood or burglary. Practice interruption insurance covers what neither of them does: the running costs of the practice when the person who generates the fees is absent.

A fourth product, business closure insurance (Betriebsschließungsversicherung), pays if the authorities close the practice because of infectious disease. It does not depend on your own illness. Which gap is most expensive for you depends on how high your fixed costs are and whether anyone else can keep treating patients.

Setting the daily amount

Start with what leaves your account each month even when no patient comes in: salaries including employer contributions, rent and service charges, equipment leases, interest and repayments, fees to the medical chamber and professional pension scheme, software and lab contracts. A common rule of thumb divides the monthly total by 30 and adds a buffer. If you also want part of your lost profit covered, that has to be agreed explicitly.

The waiting period is the other lever: the shorter it is, the higher the premium. Short illnesses can usually be bridged from reserves; long ones are the real danger. In a group practice each partner should be insured separately, with a daily amount matching their share of the costs.

Quarantine, staff and health questions

Whether an official quarantine order or a ban on practising under the German Infection Protection Act is covered varies from policy to policy, often as an optional extra. Several insurers rewrote these clauses after 2020. The cover applies to the owner, not the team: if the practice closes because your staff are in quarantine, this policy will normally not pay.

Because the benefit depends on your health, insurers ask health questions when you apply, may exclude known conditions and sometimes restrict cover for mental illness. Many tariffs price by entry age, often with a step at 50. On tax, the Federal Fiscal Court separates the risks (ruling of 19 May 2009, VIII R 6/07): premiums for your own illness are private, premiums for quarantine or physical damage are business expenses. Ask your tax adviser how your contract is treated.

What is covered

  • Running costs of the practice such as salaries, rent, leases and interest
  • A fixed daily amount without itemised proof, depending on the policy
  • Inability to work through illness
  • Inability to work after an accident, sometimes with a shorter waiting period
  • Official quarantine or a ban on practising, if included
  • Standstill after physical damage to the practice, if included
  • Part of the lost profit, if agreed

What is not covered

  • Your private living costs beyond the agreed benefit, which is what daily sickness benefit is for
  • Absence because staff are ill or in quarantine
  • An official closure of the practice without the owner being ill
  • Conditions known at application and excluded
  • The days of the waiting period
  • Benefits beyond the indemnity period, for example in permanent disability
  • Depending on the policy, mental illness or the effects of addiction

Who needs it

  • Doctors running a single-handed practice in Germany
  • Dentists with high costs for staff, treatment units and leases
  • Psychotherapists and physiotherapists with their own premises and employees
  • Partners in a group practice
  • Founders repaying a loan for buying or equipping a practice

Who does not need it

  • Employed doctors without their own practice, who rely on continued pay and daily sickness benefit
  • Practices where a partner or locum can keep things running without a real drop in income

Wheel of misfortune

Spin the wheel of bad luck

Six things that really happen. The wheel picks yours and shows who pays.

See all six cases
  1. Doctor breaks her wrist on the stairs, fixed costs for several weeks, often five figures. Budget policy: pays, Strong policy: pays. Full incapacity after an accident is the core case. Benefits start after the waiting period, sooner with some insurers after an accident.
  2. Therapist off with burnout, fixed costs for months. Budget policy: pays in part, Strong policy: pays. Mental illness is restricted or excluded by some insurers. Strong policies treat it like any other illness.
  3. Health office orders quarantine, fixed costs for one to two weeks. Budget policy: does not pay, Strong policy: pays. Official orders against the owner are a separate extra. Without it, the policy only pays for genuine incapacity.
  4. Whole team in quarantine, lost income while the practice is shut. Budget policy: does not pay, Strong policy: does not pay. Practice interruption cover depends on the owner, not the staff. Business closure insurance is the product for this.
  5. Burst pipe shuts the practice, fixed costs until reopening. Budget policy: does not pay, Strong policy: pays. Physical damage only triggers payment if the policy includes it. Otherwise a separate business interruption policy is needed.
  6. Dentist still ill after 14 months, fixed costs beyond the indemnity period. Budget policy: pays in part, Strong policy: pays. With 12 months of indemnity, payments end before recovery. A 24 month policy carries this case too.

What it costs

The premium depends mainly on the daily amount, the waiting period, the indemnity period, your entry age and your specialty. German intermediaries quote typical premiums for doctors of EUR 100 to 400 a month. A reliable figure needs your fixed costs and health details.

What drives the premium

  • Daily amount or insured fixed costs
  • Waiting period before benefits start
  • Indemnity period, for example 12 or 24 months
  • Entry age and state of health
  • Specialty and type of practice
  • Included triggers such as quarantine and physical damage

We do not quote sample premiums, as they mean little without a health assessment. Your premium is set in the quote we obtain from your details.

The policy levels on the market

01

Illness and accident

Daily amount when the owner is fully unable to work, longer waiting period, 12 months indemnity. Covers the core risk of a single-handed practice at a moderate premium.

02

With quarantine and practice bans

Adds official orders against the owner, often pays for partial incapacity and allows a shorter waiting period. For practices with close patient contact.

03

Owner and premises in one policy

Illness, accident and quarantine plus standstill after fire, water or burglary, indemnity up to 24 months. For practices with expensive equipment and high fixed costs.

How to recognise a good policy

CriterionMinimum standardStrong policyWhy it matters
Daily amount covers the running fixed costs fixed costs plus a buffer, adjustable later A daily amount that is too low only narrows the gap.
Waiting period matched to your reserves short, reduced after an accident or hospital stay The waiting period is how many weeks you pay out of your own pocket.
Indemnity period 12 months 24 months Serious illness or surgery with rehabilitation often lasts more than a year.
Degree of incapacity pays only at 100 % incapacity pays proportionally from 50 % Working half days means full costs and half the income.
Quarantine and practice bans not included included, even for orders without your own illness Health professionals face infections and official orders more often than others.
Mental illness restricted or excluded covered like any other illness Burnout and depression are among the common causes of long absences.
Group practice only one owner insured each partner with their own daily amount Otherwise the healthy partners carry the costs of the sick one.

Insurers on the German market

In Germany, practice interruption cover is offered by a number of property and health insurers, sometimes as a product of its own, sometimes as owner absence cover for the self-employed or within a practice package. Which triggers are included only becomes clear in the quote. The list describes the German market; it says nothing about which insurers we work with.

InsurerBackground
INTERdedicated practice interruption policy with a choice of indemnity period, insurer with a focus on health professions
SIGNAL IDUNAowner absence cover for the self-employed, sold through agents and brokers
HDIpart of the Talanx group, practice interruption with a quarantine clause for health professions
Allianzpractice package for doctors with loss of income after physical damage
AXA / Deutsche Ärzteversicherungthe AXA group serves health professions through Deutsche Ärzteversicherung

Compare the wordings of all tariffs Practice interruption 3 tariffs from 1 providers, as of 24 October 2026

From the BaFin register

137

137 insurers supervised by BaFin, the German regulator, are licensed for this class of insurance.

(Finanzielle Verluste, Gewinnausfall, Krankenversicherer)

Show all 137 names from the register
  • ADLER Versicherung AG
  • Allcura Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE
  • Allianz Private Krankenversicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • Allianz Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • Alte Leipziger Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • ALTE OLDENBURGER Krankenversicherung AG
  • ALTE OLDENBURGER Krankenversicherung von 1927 Versicherungsverein auf Gegenseitigkeit
  • Ambra Versicherung AG
  • andsafe Aktiengesellschaft
  • ARAG Allgemeine Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • ARAG Krankenversicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • ARAG SE
  • Augenoptiker Ausgleichskasse VVaG (AKA)
  • AXA Krankenversicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • AXA Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • Baloise Sachversicherung Aktiengesellschaft Deutschland
  • Barmenia Krankenversicherung AG
  • Bayerische Beamtenkrankenkasse Aktiengesellschaft
  • Bayerische Landesbrandversicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • Bayerischer Versicherungsverband Versicherungsaktiengesellschaft
  • Bergische Brandversicherung Allgemeine Feuerversicherung V.a.G.
  • BGV-Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • Concordia Krankenversicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • CONSTANTIA Versicherungen a.G.
  • Continentale Krankenversicherung a.G.
  • DARAG Deutschland AG
  • Debeka Allgemeine Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft Sitz Koblenz am Rhein
  • Debeka Krankenversicherungsverein auf Gegenseitigkeit Sitz Koblenz am Rhein
  • Delvag Versicherungs-AG
  • Deutsche Assistance Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • DEVK Allgemeine Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • DEVK Krankenversicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • Dialog Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • Die Haftpflichtkasse VVaG
  • DKV Deutsche Krankenversicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • Dolleruper Freie Brandgilde
  • ENVIVAS Krankenversicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • ERGO Krankenversicherung AG
  • ERGO Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • EXTREMUS Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • Feuersozietät Berlin Brandenburg Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • GARANTA Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • Gartenbau-Versicherung VVaG
  • Generali Deutschland Krankenversicherung AG
  • Generali Deutschland Versicherung AG
  • Gothaer Allgemeine Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • Gothaer Krankenversicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • Gothaer Versicherungsbank VVaG
  • Great Lakes Insurance SE
  • GRUNDEIGENTÜMER-VERSICHERUNG Versicherungsverein auf Gegenseitigkeit
  • GVV-Kommunalversicherung, Versicherungsverein auf Gegenseitigkeit
  • Hallesche Krankenversicherung auf Gegenseitigkeit
  • Hamburger Feuerkasse Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • HanseMerkur Allgemeine Versicherung AG
  • HanseMerkur Krankenversicherung AG
  • HanseMerkur Krankenversicherung auf Gegenseitigkeit
  • HanseMerkur Reiseversicherung AG
  • HanseMerkur Speziale Krankenversicherung AG
  • HDI Global SE
  • HDI Global Specialty SE
  • HDI Haftpflichtverband der Deutschen Industrie Versicherungsverein auf Gegenseitigkeit
  • HDI Versicherung AG
  • Helvetia Schweizerische Versicherungsgesellschaft AG Direktion für Deutschland
  • Helvetia Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • HUK-COBURG-Allgemeine Versicherung AG
  • HUK-COBURG-Krankenversicherung AG
  • Hübener Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • INTER Allgemeine Versicherung AG
  • INTER Krankenversicherung AG
  • Interlloyd Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • InterRisk Versicherungs-AG Vienna Insurance Group.
  • ISSELHORSTER Versicherung V.a.G.
  • KRAVAG-LOGISTIC Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • Landeskrankenhilfe V.V.a.G.
  • Landschaftliche Brandkasse Hannover
  • Lifestyle Protection AG
  • LIGA Krankenversicherung katholischer Priester Versicherungsverein auf Gegenseitigkeit…
  • Lippische Landesbrandversicherung AG
  • Lohnfortzahlungskasse Leer VVaG
  • Lucura Versicherungs AG
  • LVM Krankenversicherungs-AG
  • LVM Landwirtschaftlicher Versicherungsverein Münster a.G.
  • Mannheimer Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • Markel Insurance SE
  • Mecklenburgische Krankenversicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • Mecklenburgische Versicherungs-Gesellschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit
  • MVK Versicherung VVaG
  • MÜNCHENER VEREIN Allgemeine Versicherungs-AG
  • MÜNCHENER VEREIN Krankenversicherung a.G.
  • Neuendorfer Brand-Bau-Gilde
  • Newline Europe Versicherung AG
  • NV-Versicherungen VVaG
  • NÜRNBERGER Allgemeine Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft
  • NÜRNBERGER Krankenversicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • OKV - Ostdeutsche Kommunalversicherung auf Gegenseitigkeit
  • Ostangler Brandgilde, Versicherungsverein auf Gegenseitigkeit (VVaG)
  • OSTBEVERNER Versicherungsverein auf Gegenseitigkeit (VVaG)
  • ottonova Krankenversicherung AG
  • Pallas Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • praenatura Versicherungsverein auf Gegenseitigkeit (VVaG)
  • Provinzial Krankenversicherung Hannover AG
  • Provinzial Nord Brandkasse Aktiengesellschaft
  • Provinzial Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • R+V Allgemeine Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • R+V Krankenversicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • RheinLand Versicherungs Aktiengesellschaft
  • Rhion Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • Schleswiger Versicherungsverein auf Gegenseitigkeit
  • SHB Allgemeine Versicherung VVaG
  • SIGNAL IDUNA Allgemeine Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • SIGNAL IDUNA Krankenversicherung a.G.
  • SONO Krankenversicherung a.G.
  • Sparkassen-Versicherung Sachsen Allgemeine Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • SV SparkassenVersicherung Gebäudeversicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • Süddeutsche Krankenversicherung a.G.
  • UNION KRANKENVERSICHERUNG AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
  • uniVersa Allgemeine Versicherung AG
  • uniVersa Krankenversicherung a.G.
  • Vereinigte Hagelversicherung VVaG
  • Vereinigte Tierversicherung, Gesellschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit
  • Versicherer im Raum der Kirchen Krankenversicherung AG
  • Versicherer im Raum der Kirchen Sachversicherung AG
  • Versicherungskammer Bayern Versicherungsanstalt des öffentlichen Rechts
  • VHV Allgemeine Versicherung AG
  • vigo Krankenversicherung VVaG
  • VOLKSWOHL-BUND SACHVERSICHERUNG AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
  • VPV Allgemeine Versicherungs-AG
  • Waldenburger Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • WGV-Versicherung AG
  • WWK Allgemeine Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • Württembergische Gemeinde-Versicherung auf Gegenseitigkeit
  • Württembergische Krankenversicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • Württembergische Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft
  • Würzburger Versicherungs-AG
  • Zurich Insurance Europe AG
  • Öffentliche Feuerversicherung Sachsen-Anhalt

Source: BaFin company database, 18 September 2026; EU insurers without a German office excluded.

Legal basis and sources

Products and add-ons

Practice interruption insurance

Daily amount or fixed costs when the owner cannot work through illness or accident, with quarantine depending on the policy. The core cover for any single-handed practice.

Combined owner and premises cover

Owner absence and loss of income after physical damage in one contract, with the same waiting period and daily amount, so no gap opens between two policies.

Daily sickness benefit

Protects your private income and complements practice interruption cover rather than replacing it.

Business closure insurance

For official closures because of infectious disease, whether or not the owner is ill.

Myth or truth

True or false?

Five things people say about this insurance. Guess first, then see the answer.

If I have daily sickness benefit, I do not need practice interruption cover.

This is false.

False. Daily sickness benefit is limited by your income and meant for living costs. Practice salaries and rent come on top.

Business interruption insurance pays when the owner is ill.

This is false.

False. Standard business interruption cover needs physical damage. Your own illness is excluded there and is exactly what practice interruption cover is for.

Policies usually do not pay for the first days of illness.

This is true.

True. Benefits start after the waiting period, and the shorter you make it, the higher the premium.

Premiums for the illness part are not a business expense in Germany.

This is true.

True. The Federal Fiscal Court treats protection against your own illness as private. Premiums for quarantine or physical damage are business expenses.

If a nurse is quarantined, practice interruption cover pays.

This is false.

False. The cover depends on the owner. Staff absence needs a different contract, such as business closure insurance.

Common mistakes

  • Setting the daily amount when you open and never adjusting it after hiring or expanding
  • Assuming daily sickness benefit will also pay the practice costs
  • Assuming business interruption cover pays when you are ill
  • Giving incomplete answers to the health questions
  • Insuring only one partner in a group practice

Frequently asked questions

Questions and answers

Frequently asked

Does practice interruption insurance cover lost profit?

Only if it is explicitly included.

The core is the fixed costs.

Some insurers let you build part of your profit into the daily amount, others do not,

because that is the job of daily sickness benefit.

How high should the daily amount be?

High enough to carry the monthly fixed costs of the practice divided by 30, plus a buffer.

Add up salaries with employer contributions, rent, leases, interest and repayments,

chamber and pension scheme fees and ongoing contracts.

When do payments start?

After the agreed waiting period, which you choose when you take out the policy,

for example from day 4, 8 or 15.

Some insurers shorten or waive it after an accident.

How long does it pay?

Until you can work again, at most for the indemnity period,

usually 12 months per claim and 24 months with some policies.

It is not designed for permanent disability; that needs disability insurance.

Am I covered if the health office puts me in quarantine?

Only if your policy includes quarantine or practice bans,

which is not always the case and is often an optional extra.

Many of these clauses were rewritten after 2020, so read the wording.

Can I deduct the premiums for tax?

The part for business risks such as quarantine or physical damage, yes.

The part for your own illness is treated as private by the Federal Fiscal Court,

so it is not a business expense,

and benefits from it are not taxed as business income.

Your tax adviser can classify your contract.

I work in English with international patients. Does that matter?

Not for the cover itself, which depends on your practice costs and health.

It matters for the paperwork: policy wordings and claims run in German,

and we can explain both to you in English.

Why use a broker?

Because the differences lie in the waiting period, indemnity period,

quarantine clause and health questions.

We work out the daily amount with you,

align it with daily sickness benefit and business interruption cover,

and compare the wordings.

NAMMERT insurance broker

Request quotes for Practice interruption

We obtain quotes and come back with a comparison, free of charge.

You can write 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

Practice interruption insurance

Salaries with employer contributions, rent, leases, interest and repayments, ongoing contracts

For example existing daily sickness benefit, partners in the practice, ongoing treatment,

planned expansion

4Your current policy
5How can we reach you?

Free of charge and without obligation. A person will get back to you.

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