What are the alternatives to BU insurance in Germany?

Guide figures from published sample calculations, as of October 2026.

Usually for one of three reasons. BU cover is too expensive, for example in trades and care work. The application was rejected because of pre-existing conditions or only offered with an exclusion. Or someone wants to avoid the health questions.

The first can often be solved differently, with a lower benefit or an earlier end age. The second is the real case for an alternative. As for the third: most alternatives ask health questions too.

What matters is the trigger, meaning what has to happen before money flows. For BU cover it is this: you can no longer do half of your job. Every alternative sets a different, usually higher bar.

It protects against every cause, including mental illness. In return it only pays once you cannot do any work for more than three hours a day, whatever the work. That is a high bar, but for people whose main risk is mental health it is often a better substitute than basic abilities cover.

A drawback many overlook: with pre-existing conditions it is not always easier to get, because the health questions are similar.

Basic abilities insurance pays when you lose a clearly defined ability, even if you keep working. For roofers, carers or mechanics this is often real protection, and in a claim it is easier to prove than occupational disability.

Multi-risk policies bundle several triggers into one monthly benefit. Read exactly which illnesses and abilities are listed, as the lists vary a lot. Mental illness is usually missing or only included for severe cases.

Critical illness insurance pays a lump sum on diagnosis. That helps with adapting your home, therapy or time off, but it does not replace an income for decades.

Accident insurance is cheap and useful for leisure risks. As a substitute for BU cover it does little, because only a small share of occupational disability is caused by accidents.

Statutory sick pay (Krankengeld) runs for at most 78 weeks within three years for the same illness. Private daily sickness benefit usually ends once occupational disability is established. Both bridge a gap, neither replaces income permanently.

The state reduced earning capacity pension (Erwerbsminderungsrente) is only paid for severe limitations and after a qualifying period. If you moved to Germany recently, you may not yet meet it. Your own savings are a real alternative, but only if they last until retirement.

First exhaust every route to BU cover: anonymous pre-enquiry, lower benefit, exclusion instead of rejection. Then by risk: for manual work Grundfähigkeit or multi-risk, for mental health risk Erwerbsunfähigkeit. Critical illness and accident only as add-ons.

If the budget allows, combining Grundfähigkeit and Erwerbsunfähigkeit often comes closest to BU cover, because the gaps of the two barely overlap.