Which insurance do I need when starting work after university in Germany?
In short
Which insurance do you need when starting work after university in Germany? Your employer registers you for health insurance. You arrange your own personal liability cover, because your parents' policy usually ends with your studies, about EUR 40 to 120 a year. Most important now is disability insurance: at 30 in an office job, EUR 1,500 monthly benefit costs about EUR 70 a month.
Published premiums and 2026 limits for starting work.
Example
Typical range
Personal liability, single, EUR 10 to 50 million cover
about EUR 40 to 120 a year
Contents, 75 square metres, middle tariff zone
about EUR 90 to 120 a year
Disability, age 30, office job, EUR 1,500 benefit
about EUR 70 a month
Disability, commercial employee, age 30, EUR 1,000 benefit to 67
about EUR 50 to over 100 a month
Maximum salary conversion 2026 (4 percent of EUR 101,400)
EUR 4,056 a year, EUR 338 a month
Figures from published tariff examples and official values, as of October 2026.
Your premium depends on job, age and health; we obtain the exact quote.
Worked example
Graduate, 30, office job, 75 square metres
Basic cover after university when there is no partner and no loan to protect yet.
Personal liability, single
about EUR 40 to 120 a year
Contents, middle tariff zone
about EUR 90 to 120 a year
Disability EUR 1,500 benefit, 12 × about EUR 70
about EUR 840 a year
Health insurance
share of salary, employer pays part
Together about EUR 970 to 1,080 a year, about EUR 81 to 90 a month, on top of health insurance.
Health insurance when starting work
With your first job after university, student health insurance ends and you become compulsorily insured as an employee. Your employer registers you, you choose the Krankenkasse. You and your employer share the premium, which is deducted from your salary.
Only above EUR 77,400 annual salary (2026) can you switch to private health insurance. Think carefully: anyone who wants to return to statutory insurance after their 55th birthday and was not statutorily insured in the five years before usually stays out (Section 6(3a) SGB V).
Liability and contents: your own policies now
Under the German model terms, your parents' personal liability insurance (Privathaftpflicht) covers adult children only while they are in school or first training directly afterwards, including a bachelor and a master that follows directly. Starting work ends that. Your own single policy costs about EUR 40 to 120 a year.
For your own flat when starting work, contents insurance makes sense if you could not replace furniture and electronics from savings. For 75 square metres in a middle tariff zone you pay about EUR 90 to 120 a year, for a small flat often much less.
Disability insurance: the key policy for your first job
Your income is your most valuable asset when starting work, and according to the German pension insurance one in five new pensioners receives a reduced earning capacity pension. That statutory pension only comes after five years of insurance with three years of contributions, and it does not ask about your profession, only whether you can still work six hours a day in any job (Section 43 SGB VI).
Disability insurance (Berufsunfähigkeitsversicherung) pays if you can no longer do your own job. At 30 in an office job, EUR 1,500 monthly benefit costs about EUR 70 a month; for commercial employees with EUR 1,000 benefit about EUR 50 to over 100. The younger and healthier you are when you sign, the cheaper it stays.
Policy
When starting work
Guide price
Health insurance
compulsory, via employer
share of salary
Personal liability
own policy now
about EUR 40 to 120 a year
Disability
take out now
about EUR 70 a month
Contents
with your own flat
about EUR 90 to 120 a year
Term life
only with family or loan
depends on sum and age
Company pension in your first job
As an employee in Germany you have the right to convert up to 4 percent of the pension contribution ceiling into a company pension, up to EUR 4,056 a year in 2026. If your employer saves social contributions as a result, it must add 15 percent of the converted amount (Section 1a BetrAVG).
When starting work, check the costs of the offer and whether your employer pays more than the legal minimum. A company pension does not replace disability insurance: it helps in old age, not when your income stops.
What graduates do not need yet
Term life insurance is only needed in your first job if you must protect a partner, child or loan. Endowment and combined policies mix saving and cover and are often more expensive than both separately. Accident insurance does not replace disability insurance, because it only pays after accidents and not for illness.
Norman Nammert works as an insurance broker (Versicherungsmakler) and puts together your basic cover when starting work, without extras. The insurer pays the commission, so the advice is free for you.
Step by step
Choose a Krankenkasse and tell your employer.
Check whether your parents' liability policy still covers you and take out your own from your first working day.
Apply for disability insurance while you are young and healthy.
Take out contents insurance for your own flat if replacement would be expensive.
Review the company pension offer and ask about the employer subsidy.
Checklist
Krankenkasse chosen
Own personal liability from your first working day
Disability insurance with at least EUR 1,000 to 1,500 benefit
Contents sum of floor space × EUR 650
Company pension checked, employer subsidy known
No endowment policy without a clear purpose
Common mistakes
Assuming your parents' liability policy still applies after university
Putting off disability insurance until health issues appear
Switching to private health insurance with your first high salary without thinking ahead
Taking out accident insurance instead of disability insurance
Questions and answers
Frequently asked
Am I still insured through my parents after university?
For liability only until the end of your first training.
With your first job you need your own policy.
Do I have to arrange health insurance myself when starting work?
No.
As an employee you are compulsorily insured,
and your employer registers you with the Krankenkasse you choose.
Is disability insurance worth it when starting work?
Yes.
Premiums are lowest while you are young and healthy,
and cover starts at once, while the statutory pension needs five years first.
Do I need term life insurance as a graduate?
Only if someone depends on your income or you have a loan.
What does a company pension offer in my first job?
You convert salary before tax and social contributions,
and your employer adds at least 15 percent where it saves.
