Option plan: secure a later switch without new health questions

When you take out an option plan, you go through the normal health questions once. If the result is positive, the insurer guarantees for the term of the option that it will later accept you into full cover or a higher plan level without a new review and without waiting periods. Risk surcharges may then only be charged on the basis of the findings at that time, not because of new diagnoses.

The option plan itself contains no insurance benefit in case of illness. It is a pure right. That is exactly why it is so cheap, and exactly why it only pays off for people with a foreseeable wish to switch.

From experience, the premium is between a few euros and around ten euros per month, depending on the insurer, age and scope of the option. Measured against the risk it covers, that is little.

A single diagnosis in the meantime, for example psychotherapy that has started or newly treated high blood pressure, can mean a permanent risk surcharge of 25 to 30 percent in a regular application or prevent acceptance altogether. The option is therefore insurance of your own insurability. For tax purposes, the premium counts as one of the other provision expenses, whose maximum amount is usually already used up by the basic cover, so do not plan on any deduction effect.

The classic profile is employees whose salary is approaching the Jahresarbeitsentgeltgrenze but does not yet exceed it. They may not switch yet but want to secure access. Then there are students and career starters who want to secure the good state of health of their young age, trainee civil servants until they become civil servants, and people with statutory health insurance who plan to become self-employed later.

There are also options within private health insurance. If you can only afford an entry-level plan today, you secure a later upgrade to the comfort level without new health questions. The option makes little sense for anyone who is already eligible to switch and has decided, because they can apply directly.

The market knows three levels of the same idea, and they are constantly confused.

A pure option plan therefore builds no ageing reserves and does not freeze the entry age. If you want both, you need the large Anwartschaft (i) and pay accordingly. Which level suits you depends on the length and likelihood of the switching scenario. The longer and more certain the path into private health insurance, the more the larger solution pays off.

In our advice work, we most often see the option fail where it was never taken out. The interested person wanted to decide only once above the Jahresarbeitsentgeltgrenze (i), and in the meantime the diagnosis came.

We recommend that anyone who is seriously considering a switch to private health insurance in the next few years secure their insurability today through an option plan, instead of waiting for the perfect moment. Choosing the insurer belongs at the start, because with the option you are in practice tied to that insurer. An anonymous enquiry with several providers clarifies in advance where the terms are best.

No, it is a right, not an obligation. If the option expires unused, it lapses without replacement, together with the premiums paid. Some insurers offer an extension, but then often with new health questions.

That is exactly what the option is for. The later switch is based on your state of health at that time, and new diagnoses are left out. It is important to answer completely when you take out the option, because the duty of disclosure under § 19 VVG applies in full to the original review.

With many insurers, yes, often as part of family contracts. Parents use them to secure the child's later insurability regardless of how the child's health develops. With chronic childhood illnesses, this can make the difference over a whole insured life.