What is daily sickness benefit?

Daily sickness benefit insurance is a loss of earnings insurance that covers you if you are ill for a longer period of time but are not permanently unable to work. In that case, occupational disability insurance would kick in.

Daily sickness benefits either make up for the shortfall in statutory sick pay or protect against loss of income as the only source of money in the event of illness, for example for the self-employed and freelancers as well as members of private health insurance. Daily sickness allowance insurance is always a voluntary supplementary insurance that you can take out with various providers.

How to find a daily sickness allowance insurance with our comparison

With our daily sickness allowance comparison, you can find the right daily sickness allowance insurance quickly and easily. We will guide you through the process in just a few steps and, at the end, clearly list the offers of different daily sickness allowance insurances according to your individual situation and your needs.

You will need to provide the following information:

• person to be insured: yourself or your partner
• desired start date of insurance: enter date
• gender
• Date of birth: Your age plays a role in the premium calculation.
• Occupational status: There are different tariffs for self-employed and employed persons.
• Provision for continued payment of wages: Do you want statutory, private or no continued payment of wages.
• With or without age provision: In the case of tariffs with age provision, you pay an additional premium. In return, your premiums are kept stable in old age.

When you press the "Next" button, another window opens. Now you can decide from what point onwards continued payment of wages should begin. In addition, information about your income is required. After you have entered all the key data in the form, we will show you the most favorable daily sickness allowance insurances for you in comparison.

How much should the daily sickness allowance be?

The question of how much daily sickness benefit you should insure always depends on the amount of your monthly expenses. Basically, the daily sickness allowance should be sized so that you can continue to pay all your bills and recover with peace of mind even in the event of illness.

At the same time, however, the daily sickness allowance must not be higher than your actual net income. This means that you cannot insure more daily sickness benefits than you have earned in the past 12 months. Furthermore, the income threshold is currently $4,537.50. This in turn means that you can receive sick pay up to a maximum of $2,793, even if your income is higher.

The best way to calculate the optimal amount of daily sick pay for you is to use our guide - either for insured persons who are entitled to statutory sick pay or for insured persons who are not:

With entitlement to sick pay: How to calculate your daily sick pay in the statutory health insurance fund.

If a permanent employee falls ill, the employer continues to pay the salary for the first 6 weeks as normal. After that, the health insurance company steps in with the so-called sick pay. Statutory sick pay is available for a maximum of 72 weeks, or 78 weeks if you are not entitled to continued payment of wages by your employer. Self-employed persons with voluntary statutory insurance are also entitled to this, provided they have not objected to the inclusion of sick pay.

If you are unable to cover the monthly shortfall from your own reserves, it makes sense to take out daily sickness benefit insurance to top up your sick pay. We recommend the following procedure for calculating the amount of the daily sickness benefit: Make a budget statement with all indispensable expenses of a whole year. This way, no item is lost. Divide this amount by 12 months and subtract the statutory sick pay and all other wage replacement benefits from the result. This amount divided by 30 calendar days gives the daily sickness allowance that we recommend covering.

How useful is daily sickness allowance insurance?

Daily sickness benefits make sense if you cannot or do not want to cover the loss of earnings during illness sufficiently from your own reserves. Especially if you belong to one of the following groups, it is worth taking out this additional insurance:

• privately insured: this group does not receive sick pay from the health insurance fund. There is also no "sick pay insurance" that can be taken out freely. Instead, supplementary insurance for daily sickness benefits is particularly important here. Privately insured freelancers who do not have an employer to bridge the first 6 weeks are recommended to take out daily sickness benefit insurance from the 43rd day of illness. By the way, you do not have to take out this insurance with your private health insurance provider. It can also be another provider.

• Well-earning employees: The more you earn, the more worthwhile a daily sickness benefit insurance. This is because if your income is higher than the income threshold of €4,537.50, the statutory sick pay is only a maximum of €2,793. The higher your income, the greater the gap in coverage and the more important it can be to supplement your sick pay with daily sick pay.

• Self-employed persons in the statutory health insurance: Self-employed persons insured by the statutory health insurance only receive sick pay amounting to 70% of their income from the 7th week onwards, if they did not decide against this when taking out health insurance. A private daily sickness allowance insurance can not only close the supply gap through the sickness allowance here, but, depending on the tariff, also step in from the 3rd or 4th week.

Good to know: Civil servants are the only occupational group that need not worry at all. Your employer will continue to pay your salary indefinitely from the 1st day of illness.

How long is the daily sickness allowance paid?

In principle, you will receive the daily sickness allowance for as long as you need it. The prerequisite is that you submit a doctor's certificate confirming your inability to work. The payment is then not limited in time, but ends with the following two scenarios:

• You are permanently incapacitated: If you are indeed incapacitated for an unforeseeable period of time, the doctor will check whether there is a real occupational incapacity. In this case, the receipt of sickness benefits would also end and - if taken out - the occupational disability insurance would take over.
• You are healthy again: As soon as the doctor determines that you can work again, the receipt of daily sickness benefits ends. This can also be done gradually, for example if you initially work part-time.

How much does daily sickness benefit insurance cost?

The premiums for daily sickness benefit insurance rise and fall with several factors:

• Amount of daily sickness benefit insured: The higher you want the money paid out to be, the higher the amount.
• Time of payment: The earlier you want to claim the daily sickness benefit, the higher the premiums. Thus, it makes a difference whether you start receiving it with the 3rd, the 4th or only with the 6th week of illness.
• Age at entry into the daily sickness allowance insurance: The risk of illness usually increases for older insured persons. Therefore, the premium amount increases with the age of insurance entry.
• Health condition at the start of insurance: If you have pre-existing conditions, risk surcharges may be levied. However, you can reverse these once the illness has healed.

What should I look out for when taking out daily sickness benefits insurance?

Before taking out daily sickness benefits insurance, it is worth taking a particularly close look. Unlike with many other types of insurance, it is best not to change providers for daily sickness allowance insurance, because premiums rise with the age at which you join. It will therefore be more difficult to find a favorable rate.

What you should look for before you decide on a daily sickness benefit insurance, we show you below.

• Increase the daily sickness allowance without health questions: In the event of an increase in income, you should increase your daily sickness allowance within 2 months. Make sure that this is possible with your provider at least once a year without renewed health questions. The upper limits of the tariff are also relevant for you. Some providers cap the daily sickness allowance at €100 per day, others at €180.
• Waiver of termination right: The daily sickness allowance insurers may give their members ordinary notice of termination in the first 3 insurance years. Some waive this right of termination. You should take these into the closer selection.
• Payment of daily sickness benefits even during rehab: Some providers do not pay daily sickness benefits during rehab or spa treatment, or only if the stay immediately follows the illness. Choose a provider who pays daily sickness benefits without further conditions also in rehab times, if you were ill for at least 2 weeks before.
• Daily sickness benefit insurance without waiting period: Some insurers have no waiting period before the insurance benefits take effect, others apply a waiting period of 3 months, while still others wait 6 months before paying out daily sickness benefits for the first time.
• Deadline for reporting incapacity for work: You need a medical certificate to report incapacity for work. However, this is not recognized retroactively. Find out the exact deadlines from the insurers - the longer you have, the better.
• Possibility of accumulating sick days: If you are repeatedly unable to work due to the same illness, these days should be added together so that you do not have to wait for approval of the daily sickness allowance each time.
• Daily sickness benefits during pregnancy: Some providers pay daily sickness benefits for incapacity to work due to pregnancy, after miscarriages or abortions. Since 2017, privately insured self-employed persons have also been able to receive daily sickness benefits during the statutory ban on employment and during maternity leave.
• Suspension in the event of unemployment: If you become unemployed, the daily sickness allowance insurance usually ends. In other cases, it continues. Providers who allow your contract to remain inactive until you find work again are good. Because a new insurance can cost you more again.