Is hospital daily allowance in accident insurance worth it?

Documented benefit levels, length of stay and statutory co-payment, plus premium guide values.

The hospital daily allowance (Krankenhaustagegeld) in German accident insurance pays an agreed amount for every day you spend in hospital as an inpatient after an accident. EUR 10 to 50 a day is common. The money is yours to use as you like; you do not have to prove any costs.

It is often combined with a recovery allowance (Genesungsgeld) paid after discharge, either for a number of days or as a lump sum. Only some policies pay for outpatient surgery, and then usually for a few days.

A hospital stay in Germany lasts 7.1 days on average. At EUR 20 a day an accident with an inpatient stay brings about EUR 140, at EUR 50 about EUR 355. Nice to have, but it does not change your financial position after an accident.

Against that stands a premium you pay every year, including all the years without an accident. And the add-on only pays when an accident is the cause. Most hospital stays are due to illness, and then accident insurance pays nothing.

A hospital allowance does not replace income. Employees in Germany get six weeks of continued pay from the employer and then sickness benefit (Krankengeld) from the health insurer. If you are self-employed, you need real sickness daily benefit (Krankentagegeld) that pays for illness and accidents and is based on your income.

Nor does it improve your treatment. Chief physician care and a two bed room come from supplementary hospital insurance (Krankenhauszusatzversicherung), not from a daily allowance in accident insurance.

If the add-on costs only a few euros a year, it covers the side costs of a hospital stay: the statutory co-payment of EUR 10 a day, travel for your family, phone and TV, childcare at home. For children, who are often accompanied by a parent in hospital, that helps.

People with risky hobbies such as motorcycling, riding or climbing end up in hospital after accidents more often. Then the add-on is more likely to pay off. Just keep the order right: first the sum insured and the limb schedule (Gliedertaxe), then add-ons like this one.

Put the extra premium into a higher sum insured and you protect the case that really gets expensive: permanent disability. Just EUR 20,000 more sum insured brings EUR 4,000 more at 20 percent disability, paid once.

If you want more comfort in hospital, supplementary hospital insurance serves you better; if you want to protect your income, sickness daily benefit does. Both also pay when you are ill.