Auslandskrankenversicherung: Travel Health Insurance for Germans

By the GoGermany Editorial Team · 2026-08-05

Your German GKV and EHIC only partly cover you abroad and rarely pay for repatriation. Here's how cheap travel health insurance (~€10–20/yr) fills the gap in 2026.

You live in Germany, you have proper health insurance, and you are about to fly off for a holiday, a work trip or to visit family. It feels natural to assume your cover simply travels with you. It does not — or at least not fully. Your gesetzliche Krankenversicherung (GKV — statutory health insurance) covers you only partly abroad, and almost never pays for the single most expensive thing that can go wrong: getting you flown home. A separate Auslandskrankenversicherung (international travel health insurance) closes that gap, and it is astonishingly cheap. This guide explains exactly what your German cover does and does not do abroad, and how to buy the right add-on for 2026.

Why your German health insurance only partly covers you abroad

Where you are travelling changes everything.

• Inside the EU/EEA and Switzerland. Your GKV card doubles as the Europäische Krankenversicherungskarte (EHIC — European Health Insurance Card), printed on the back. It entitles you to necessary treatment under the local public system, at local rules and local rates. That sounds reassuring, but it means you get the standard of the country you are in, you may have to pay co-payments a local would pay, and you often have to pay upfront and claim back later.
• Countries with a social-security agreement. Germany has bilateral agreements with a handful of non-EU countries (for example Turkey, Tunisia, several Balkan states). Cover exists but is limited and bureaucratic.
• Everywhere else — the USA, Canada, most of Asia, Africa, Latin America. Your GKV pays little or nothing. A hospital stay in the United States can run into tens of thousands of euros, entirely on you.

If you have private Krankenversicherung (PKV — private health insurance) instead, read your policy: many PKV tariffs include some worldwide cover, but usually only for a limited number of weeks per trip, so the same gaps can appear on longer journeys.

The biggest gap: Rücktransport (medical repatriation)

The item that turns a manageable problem into a financial disaster is the medizinischer Rücktransport (medically arranged repatriation home), sometimes called Rückholung. If you are seriously ill or injured and need to be flown back to Germany with medical staff, an air ambulance can cost €10,000 to well over €100,000 depending on distance and equipment.

Neither the EHIC nor standard GKV cover pays for repatriation. This is the number-one reason to hold a travel policy — and the number-one clause to read carefully, as explained below.

What travel health insurance actually costs

The good news: this is one of the cheapest insurances you will ever buy. A whole-year Auslandsreisekrankenversicherung (travel health insurance for trips abroad) that covers unlimited short trips typically costs only a few euros a month.

For most people who take even one or two trips a year, the annual multi-trip policy is the obvious choice: for the price of a couple of coffees you are covered every time you leave the country.

What to check before you buy

Cheap policies differ in the fine print. Before you click "buy", check these points.

• Rücktransport — how it is worded. The strongest policies pay for repatriation when it is medizinisch sinnvoll (medically sensible/advisable), not only when it is medizinisch notwendig (strictly medically necessary). The "sinnvoll" wording is far better for you, because it lets you be flown home in more situations. This one word can matter more than the price.
• Maximum trip length (Reisedauer). Annual policies cap how long each single trip can be — commonly 42, 56 or 70 days. Go over that limit and you are uninsured for the rest of the trip. Long-term travellers need a different product (see below).
• Age limits and surcharges. Many cheap tariffs assume you are under 65. Older travellers pay more or need a dedicated senior policy; some cap the age at which you can first take out cover.
• Pre-existing and chronic conditions (chronische Erkrankungen). Standard travel cover pays for acute, unforeseen illness. Flare-ups of a known chronische Erkrankung are often excluded unless your condition was stable and treated before departure — read the exclusions if this applies to you.
• Deductible (Selbstbeteiligung). Some policies apply a small excess per claim; others have none. A zero-deductible policy is worth a euro or two more.
• Region and extras. Confirm the cover is worldwide if you travel outside Europe, and check limits on pregnancy, dangerous sports, and rescue costs (Bergungskosten) if relevant.

Short trips versus long stays: when you need expat cover

An annual travel policy is designed for short, temporary trips from your home base in Germany — holidays, business travel, visiting relatives. It is not built for living abroad for months at a time.

If you are going away for a longer period — a sabbatical, a semester studying abroad, working remotely from another country, or an extended stay with family — you need a Langzeit-Auslandskrankenversicherung (long-stay international health insurance) or a dedicated expat policy. These are priced by destination, age and duration and provide proper cover for months or years, not just weeks.

Two extra points for long absences:

• If you formally leave Germany and do an Abmeldung (deregistration), your GKV membership can be affected or paused, so plan your cover to bridge the whole time you are away.
• Some countries require proof of health insurance for a visa; a recognised long-stay policy usually satisfies this where a short travel policy would not.

How to choose and buy — step by step

1. Decide your travel pattern. Several short trips a year → annual multi-trip. One holiday → single-trip. Months abroad → long-stay/expat cover.
2. Filter on Rücktransport wording. Prefer policies that repatriate when medizinisch sinnvoll, with no cap or a very high cap on repatriation costs.
3. Match the trip-length limit to your longest planned trip, and confirm worldwide cover if you leave Europe.
4. Check age, chronic-condition and deductible clauses against your own situation.
5. Buy online. These policies are sold instantly by German insurers and comparison sites; you get documents by email the same day. Save the emergency assistance hotline number in your phone and keep it with your travel documents.

Your travel policy sits on top of your normal cover — it does not replace it. To understand the German system your GKV or PKV belongs to, see our health insurance in Germany guide. If you are budgeting a longer stay abroad or comparing costs, the cost-of-living calculator can help, and you will find more practical explainers in our articles library. And if you are still settling into Germany, a little of the language goes a long way at the doctor and the Krankenkasse — our learn German lessons cover exactly that vocabulary.

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