Jahresarbeitsentgeltgrenze 2027: what the JAEG means for your health insurance

The JAEG (i), often also called the Versicherungspflichtgrenze in health insurance, is €77,400 a year or €6,450 a month in 2026. Compared with 2025, it rose by €3,600, which is 4.9%. If you regularly earn more than this as an employee, you can choose freely between statutory and private health insurance.

Besides this regular threshold, there is a second, much lower threshold that is only relevant for a smaller group of existing policyholders. If you keep the two apart, you avoid the typical confusion with the Beitragsbemessungsgrenze (i)BBG · BeitragsbemessungsgrenzeThe contribution ceiling of statutory health and long-term care insurance. Income above this amount is not used to calculate contributions.More about BBG →.

Outlook for 2027: the JAEG (i) rises to €84,150 a year or €7,012.50 a month. The jump is larger than usual, because a special increase of €300 a month, decided by law, comes on top of the normal adjustment to wage growth. The Federal Cabinet decided the values on October 7, 2026, and the Bundesrat still has to approve them. If your income is between €77,400 and €84,150 and you are already exempt in 2026, you should therefore check a planned switch to private health insurance in 2026: if you are privately insured on December 31, 2026, the threshold of €80,550 a year or €6,712.50 a month applies to you in 2027 under § 6 (8) SGB V. The condition is that you were exempt because of your income on December 31, 2026. If you are still compulsorily insured, you cannot leave at the turn of the year, because under § 6 (4) SGB V compulsory insurance only ends if you also exceed the threshold of the following year. We have summarized the details in our news item on the JAEG 2027 that has been decided.

The JAEG (i) and the BBG (i) are often mixed up, although they have different functions:

The values for 2027 come from the cabinet decision on the calculation values regulation. The approval of the Bundesrat is still pending.

If you stay in statutory health insurance, you therefore pay your contribution at most up to the BBG. A switch to private health insurance makes you independent of the BBG (i). The premium then depends on the plan, your age and your health, not on a contribution ceiling.

The general JAEG (i) of €77,400 applies to everyone who becomes exempt from compulsory insurance today. The special JAEG of €69,750 only applies to people who on December 31, 2002 were already exempt because they exceeded the JAEG and had comprehensive private health insurance. In 2026, this value is identical to the BBG (i) and gives existing policyholders a lower threshold. From 2027, the special JAEG is €72,900 a year or €6,075 a month and therefore below the BBG of €76,500.

For 2027, a third threshold is added: if you are exempt because of your income and privately insured on December 31, 2026, a threshold of €80,550 a year or €6,712.50 a month applies to you under § 6 (8) SGB V. It protects existing policyholders from becoming compulsorily insured again only because of the special increase of the general JAEG (i).

The JAEG (i) does not rise automatically every year. It is linked to the reference value West (§ 18 SGB IV, 2026: €3,955 a month, 2027: €4,130) by the Social Insurance Calculation Values Regulation and set by the Federal Cabinet.

Under § 6 SGB V, what decides is the expected regular annual pay, not the pay you actually received in the past.

Regular annual pay includes:

• contractually agreed earnings
• taxable benefits in kind
• holiday pay
• Christmas bonus
• capital-forming payments
• regular profit shares, if they are paid with certainty
• pay for on-call duty and supplements for shift work or work under difficult conditions
• overtime pay only if it is paid as a flat rate
• performance-based pay only with the guaranteed minimum amount

Regular annual pay does not include:

• voluntary one-off payments
• family supplements
• irregular overtime pay

A worked example: €5,500 base salary times twelve gives €66,000. Adding €3,000 holiday pay and €5,500 Christmas bonus gives €74,500. That is below the €77,400 of the JAEG (i) 2026, so the employee remains compulsorily insured.

The Jahresarbeitsentgeltgrenze (i) does not affect all groups of people in the same way:

As soon as the statutory health insurance fund establishes your exemption from compulsory insurance, it informs you of the option to leave. Under § 188 (4) SGB V, you then have two weeks. From this moment, four paths are open to you:

Before a formal application, an anonymous risk enquiry with several insurers checks your likely chances of acceptance, without a rejection being stored by the insurer. To compare the cost side: the maximum contribution to statutory health insurance including long-term care insurance is €1,226.44 a month in 2026.

If your pay as an employee falls below the JAEG (i) again in the following year, you generally become compulsorily insured in statutory insurance again.

One exception is the age 55 rule under § 6 (3a) SGB V. If you would only become compulsorily insured after reaching age 55, you remain exempt if you had no statutory insurance in the five years before and were exempt, released from compulsory insurance or self-employed as your main occupation for at least half of that time. No application is needed for this.

An employee earns €6,200 gross a month, which is €74,400 a year. In 2025 she was above the JAEG (i) of €73,800, and in 2026 she falls below the new threshold of €77,400. The consequence: she was exempt in 2025, but becomes compulsorily insured again from January 1, 2026.

In our advice we often see this pattern with pay rises during the year. If you exceed the threshold in August, you may not choose right away. You may only choose from January 1 of the following year, and only if your pay is also expected to exceed the new threshold then.

Exceeding the JAEG (i) gives you a choice, not an obligation to switch. As rules of thumb for the question of suitability: an entry age under about 40 years, a minimum net income from €3,000 a month and a stable long-term life plan.

If you exceed the JAEG (i) for the first time and switch without stable income, you risk falling back into compulsory statutory insurance as early as the following year.

No. The Jahresarbeitsentgeltgrenze (i) only affects employees. Self-employed people, freelancers and civil servants may join private health insurance regardless of income.

No. The statutory health insurance fund informs you about your exemption from compulsory insurance, with a two-week period under § 188 (4) SGB V. The switch to private health insurance requires an active application. If you do nothing, you stay in statutory insurance as a voluntary member.

Only from January 1 of the following year, and only if your pay is also expected to be above the threshold that then applies. A pay rise during the year alone does not give you a choice right away.

One exception is a change of employer. If you change employer and your starting salary is directly above the JAEG (i), you can switch from the start of the employment.

Looking at past years, the general Versicherungspflichtgrenze (i) was adjusted almost every year. Only in 2021 and 2022 did it stay the same at €64,350.

For employees who were exempt from compulsory health insurance on December 31, 2002, the special, lower Jahresarbeitsentgeltgrenze (i) applies. New from 2027 is a third threshold under § 6 (8) SGB V: for employees who are exempt and privately insured on December 31, 2026, it is €80,550 in 2027.