Millions of privately insured people have to prepare for higher contributions. How much the costs increase varies considerably depending on the provider.
Around 53 percent of those with full private insurance in Germany have to prepare for premium increases at the turn of the year, which amount to an average of 13.4 percent.
Debeka increases contributions in two tariffs, by an average of 6.7 percent for those affected.
Barmenia Gothaer plans to adjust contributions for 85 percent of those fully insured, with an average increase of around eleven percent for those affected.
The insurance broker HC Consulting mentions premium changes between 2.19 percent and 11.72 percent for various providers.
Berlin. For millions of privately insured people in Germany, health insurance is expected to become more expensive next year. Around 53 percent of those with full insurance will have to prepare for higher contributions at the turn of the year. This emerges from figures from the Association of Private Health Insurance (PKV). On average, contributions for those affected increase by 13.4 percent.
According to the association, the reason for this is increasing health spending. Last year, private health and nursing care insurers spent a total of 42.1 billion euros on services - 7.2 percent more than the previous year. They had to pay significantly more, especially for hospital treatment and medicines.
But how much are the premiums rising for individual insurers? Handelsblatt has asked several large private health insurers about this. The majority did not want to comment yet. Some numbers still provide an initial overview.
The market leader Debeka, where around 700,000 customers have to prepare for higher contributions, became quite specific. That's just over a quarter of the total 2.6 million fully insured people. For those affected, contributions increase by an average of 6.7 percent, Debeka said upon request.
The increases are limited to two tariffs whose contributions were not adjusted at the beginning of 2026. Calculated across the entire insured population, there is an average increase of 2.9 percent, it goes on to say.
Significantly more customers are likely to be affected at Barmenia Gothaer, where around 85 percent of those with full insurance will have to adapt to adjustments. That's a total of around 375,000 people, including 280,000 at Barmenia and 95,000 at Gothaer.
The contributions will rise on average by around eleven percent for the affected insured persons. However, how much customers have to pay additionally depends on the respective contract. However, neither Debeka nor Barmenia Gothaer make an average monthly additional contribution.
What other insurers require
An evaluation by the Cologne insurance broker HC Consulting provides information about the price development of other providers. The company specializes in private health insurance and is investigating how much insurance companies want to increase their premiums in the coming year.
At Axa, they should increase by an average of 11.72 percent. At Gothaer it is 9.02 percent, at Universa 6.58 percent and at Inter 6.24 percent. The values determined for Allianz are lower at 4.92 percent, Barmenia at 4.12 percent and R+V at 2.19 percent. HC Consulting calculated an increase of 5.11 percent for the State Health Aid (LKH).
For some large insurers, only preliminary figures are currently available. HC Consulting expects an increase of around 6.6 percent for Signal Iduna and around five percent for DKV. However, these numbers cannot easily be compared with each other.
According to its own information, HC Consulting examined certain tariffs and age groups and calculated an average, which also includes reductions in contributions. How many people are insured under the respective tariffs is not taken into account.
The health economist David Matusiewicz from the FOM in Dortmund therefore warns against hasty conclusions. “From a health economics perspective, such evaluations are a useful initial indication of premium developments, but are not a reliable ranking of private health insurers,” he says. Because a tariff with a few customers counts just as much in the evaluation as one with many insured people.
Individual, particularly high adjustments can have a significant impact on the result. “The risk of distortion is therefore considerable,” says Matusiewicz. For a reliable comparison, the values would have to be weighted according to the number of insured people.
The PKV Association still considers the results to be fundamentally understandable. “The numbers mentioned may be plausible,” it says on request. There could be several reasons why the values differ greatly between companies. Some insurers had to increase premiums for the majority of their customers last year. For them, the adjustments in 2027 could be smaller.
Why contributions are rising
The PKV Association's figures for 2025 show how much health care costs have risen recently. Private health insurers had to spend 7.45 percent more on general hospital services than in the previous year. They paid around eight percent more for medicines and a good 6.6 percent more for remedies such as physiotherapy. Expenditure on outpatient medical treatment increased by six percent.
Political pressure to act is also growing in view of the rising costs. CSU health politician Stephan Pilsinger told the Handelsblatt that the contribution development was reasonable. “Nevertheless, we should also discuss models such as patient management and primary care in the area of private health insurance in order to keep the costs for the insured within an acceptable range in the long term,” he says and calls for higher premium jumps among private insurers to be more closely regulated.
Pilsinger had already made it clear what exactly that could look like in the last electoral term in 2024. At that time, the Union proposed lowering the thresholds for contribution adjustments, which would mean that companies would adjust their contributions more frequently, but in significantly smaller jumps.
However, the increases in spending in 2025 will not affect the insured immediately. Insurers calculate their premiums based on expected service expenditure. If the actual costs rise more than planned, you must, under certain conditions, review your contributions and adjust them if necessary. Legal and contractual thresholds apply.
As long as these are not reached, the contributions will initially remain unchanged. If they are exceeded later, the premiums can rise sharply.
