Maternity benefit in private and statutory health insurance: what you are entitled to

Employees with statutory insurance receive a daily maternity benefit from their statutory health insurance fund for the whole maternity protection period. It is at most €13 per calendar day, which equals around €390 to €400 per month. The basis is the average net income of the last three calendar months before maternity protection begins.

If your net income is higher, your employer pays the difference as a supplement. With an average net wage of one hundred euros per day, €13 comes from the statutory health insurance fund and €87 from the employer. The legal basis is § 24i SGB V.

Privately insured employees receive a one-off amount of at most €210 for the whole maternity protection period. This payment does not come from private health insurance. It comes from the Federal Office for Social Security under § 19 of the Maternity Protection Act (MuSchG).

The difference looks large, but most of it evens out. Your employer pays the difference between a notional maternity benefit of €13 per day and your average net salary. In the end, an employed mother in private health insurance is therefore short of €13 per day, part of which the one-off payment replaces. If you also plan parental allowance in this phase, look at both cash benefits together.

Not every expectant mother is an employee. Separate rules apply to the other groups.

Female civil servants receive no maternity benefit, but their full civil service pay during the protection periods. Privately insured self-employed women have no statutory entitlement, and they cover the loss of earnings with Krankentagegeld. If you are voluntarily insured in statutory health insurance, you only receive maternity benefit if you are entitled to Krankengeld (i), for example through an elective plan. Students and people in a mini-job receive no maternity benefit from this insurance. With a side job subject to compulsory insurance, however, there can be an entitlement for that job.

Maternity benefit is paid for the statutory protection periods. They begin six weeks before the expected due date and end eight weeks after delivery. In the case of a premature birth, a multiple birth or the birth of a child with a disability, the period after the birth is extended to twelve weeks.

In the normal course, this gives a benefit period of fourteen weeks. The one-off maximum amount for privately insured women does not change, not even after a premature birth.

For the state share it is large, around €390 to €400 per month compared with a one-off €210. For employed mothers, the employer's supplement is the same in both systems, so it does not close this difference. Over a protection period of fourteen weeks, a woman with statutory insurance receives €1,274 in maternity benefit, a privately insured woman €210.

Not for maternity benefit. You apply for it at the Federal Office for Social Security and only prove your membership there. A separate notice to your insurer is not needed for this.

Only under certain conditions. If you are voluntarily insured in statutory health insurance, you need an entitlement to Krankengeld (i), for example through an elective plan. Privately insured self-employed women have no entitlement and cover the loss with Krankentagegeld (i).

About seven weeks before the expected due date. This leaves enough time for processing. You submit the birth certificate after the delivery.