If you become unemployed in Germany, the employment agency (Agentur für Arbeit) insures you for health, long-term care and pension while you receive unemployment benefit. Which insurance do I need myself? Keep personal liability, contents insurance and disability cover; the first two often cost under EUR 15 a month. Make life and pension policies premium free instead of cancelling.
Published premiums for the policies you should keep without a job, as of 2026.
Example
Typical range
Personal liability, single, cover EUR 10 to 50 million
about EUR 40 to 120 a year
Contents, 80 square metres, depending on city
about EUR 23 to 54 a year
Disability cover EUR 1,500 a month, age 30, office job
around EUR 70 a month
Unemployment benefit without and with a child
60 and 67 percent of flat-rate net pay
Guide values as of October 2026 from published premium examples and the law.
Amounts in the worked example are guide values from our quoting practice.
We are happy to check which policies you keep while unemployed.
Worked example
Age 34, unemployed after being let go
What the insurance folder looks like after the first review.
Personal liability and contents
kept, about EUR 10 a month
Disability cover EUR 70
kept, six-month deferral requested
Private pension EUR 100
made premium free instead of cancelled
Second car
deregistered, discount kept for up to six months
Monthly insurance costs fall from about EUR 250 to about EUR 10 during the deferral, without losing any important cover.
What the employment agency insures for you
As long as you receive unemployment benefit (Arbeitslosengeld), you are compulsorily insured in public health insurance and the agency pays the contributions. By law this also applies when the benefit is suspended for a blocking period (Sperrzeit), for example after you resigned yourself.
Pension insurance continues as well, and the time counts towards your pension. On the way to an appointment the agency invites you to, you are covered by statutory accident insurance.
Area
While on unemployment benefit
What you do
Health and long-term care insurance
the agency pays the contribution
nothing, your fund stays
Pension insurance
compulsory contributions continue
nothing
Accident insurance
on the way to agency appointments
private cover for leisure if you want it
Personal liability and contents
nothing
keep paying, it costs little
Disability insurance
nothing
keep it, defer premiums if needed
Which policies you should keep
Personal liability insurance (Privathaftpflicht) costs about EUR 40 to 120 a year for a single person and protects you against claims that could ruin you while you have no income. It does not belong on the list of cuts when you become unemployed.
Disability insurance (Berufsunfähigkeitsversicherung) matters even more. A new policy years later and with new diagnoses is often more expensive or impossible to get. Many policies allow you to defer premiums for a while. Ask before you cancel.
What you can pause or adjust
You can make life and private pension policies premium free at any time from the end of the insurance period. The policy continues with a smaller benefit. Cancelling usually only pays out the surrender value, which in the early years is well below what you paid in.
A second car you do not need can be deregistered. Under the model terms, a break of up to six months does not cost you your no-claims discount. You can review expensive top-ups such as hospital or dental cover, but remember that a new policy later means new health questions.
Legal expenses and payment protection: what no longer helps
Legal expenses insurance (Rechtsschutz) that you take out after being dismissed will not pay for this dispute. Under the model terms, employment law has a three-month waiting period, and the dispute must not have started before.
The same goes for payment protection insurance on loans: it must have existed before unemployment and has its own waiting periods. If you have one, report your unemployment to the insurer straight away.
When you need to act and when not
If you were privately insured, unemployment benefit usually makes you compulsorily insured in the public system again. If you were not publicly insured in the last five years, you can apply for exemption within three months at the public fund.
If you are only briefly unemployed and receive benefit, you usually do not need to change your insurance. Act if you are not entitled to benefit or it runs out; then sort out health insurance immediately.
Step by step
Register as unemployed so health and pension insurance run through the agency.
List all policies with a monthly premium.
Keep liability, contents and disability cover; ask for a deferral if money is tight.
Make life and pension policies premium free instead of cancelling.
Report unemployment at once if you have payment protection on a loan.
Checklist
Unemployment benefit applied for and health insurance confirmed
Personal liability still running
Disability cover not cancelled
Surrender value and premium-free benefit compared
Payment protection checked and reported
Common mistakes
Cancelling disability cover to save money in the short term
Cancelling a life policy instead of making it premium free
Taking out legal expenses cover after the dismissal and hoping it pays
Not registering as unemployed and ending up without health insurance
Questions and answers
Frequently asked
Am I health insured during a blocking period?
Yes.
The law also covers people who do not receive unemployment benefit only because of a blocking
period.
What happens after unemployment benefit ends?
If you then receive basic income support, you stay health insured through it.
Without benefits you need voluntary insurance or family cover through a spouse.
Does my residence permit depend on my job?
That is a question for the immigration office, not your insurer.
Clarify it early, because it can affect how long you stay and which policies you need.
Can I pause disability insurance?
Many policies allow a deferral or a premium-free period.
The details are in your terms; ask before cancelling anything.
Do I need private unemployment insurance?
Stand-alone cover against unemployment hardly exists, mostly only payment protection for loans.
You have to take it out before job loss becomes foreseeable.
