Right of withdrawal in private health insurance: deadline and form

The right of withdrawal in private health insurance is set out in law and applies to every newly concluded private health insurance contract. The period is 14 days. The term withdrawal period therefore means exactly this 14-day window in which you can undo the contract without giving reasons and without cancellation fees.

The starting point is not the date you signed, but the date the complete contract documents reach you, including a correct notice of your right of withdrawal.

The legal basis is § 8 VVG. It also applies to private health insurance, and the special rule in § 152 VVG only concerns life insurance. The period starts once all necessary documents have reached you in full in text form.

The complete documents include:

• the policy document
• the insurance terms and conditions
• the consumer information
• a correctly worded notice of your right of withdrawal

If one of these parts is missing, the period does not run.

You must declare the withdrawal in text form. Text form means a letter, email or fax, each with a clear identification of the contract and a clear declaration of withdrawal. A verbal statement is not enough.

We recommend registered mail with a return receipt or an email with a read receipt. Both create proof of delivery, which is decisive in disputes about deadlines. Under § 8 (1) VVG, sending it in time is enough to meet the 14-day period, but you should be able to prove that it reached the insurer.

A short sentence is enough, for example: I hereby withdraw from my insurance contract no. [contract number] dated [date]. A detailed explanation is not necessary.

After an effective withdrawal, the contract is treated as if it had never been concluded. The insurer refunds all premiums you have paid in full. As a rule, you must repay benefits you have already used, which hardly ever happens within the 14-day window in practice.

Important: the withdrawal has retroactive effect for the entire contract period. This is what sets it apart from termination, which always only applies to the future.

If you want to withdraw, clarify first what happens afterwards. Without follow-up cover, you have a gap in cover. Returning to statutory health insurance as follow-up cover involves deadlines and income conditions. And if you submit a new application for private health insurance, you must go through the health questions again.

An anonymous risk enquiry with two to three alternative insurers before you withdraw shows which conditions would be possible elsewhere.

Withdrawal is a very short tool and only applies to the first 14 days after you receive the contract documents. If you want to leave the contract later, you have other options:

• Special termination after a premium adjustment
• Ordinary termination after the minimum contract term
• Plan change under § 204 VVG, which moves your cover to a cheaper plan with the same insurer

In our advice work, we often see that people regret a withdrawal they declared in a hurry. The 14 days are enough to check alternatives calmly and make a well-founded decision.

A few questions help here:

• Are there better plan alternatives with other insurers?
• Did the anonymous risk enquiry show better conditions with alternatives?
• Is your cover secured in the meantime?

If you have answered these questions, you make a better decision than someone who withdraws out of sudden uncertainty.

If the notice of your right of withdrawal is missing from the contract documents or is incorrect, the 14-day period does not run. The right of withdrawal remains as long as you have not received a correct notice. In practice, this means: you can still withdraw months after the contract was concluded if the notice was demonstrably missing.

Yes. The right of withdrawal under § 152 VVG applies regardless of how the contract was concluded. Distance contracts and contracts concluded online are also subject to the 14-day right of withdrawal. Here too, the period only starts when you receive the complete contract documents, including a correct notice of your right of withdrawal.

In principle, yes. After a withdrawal, you can submit a new application with another insurer straight away. The withdrawn contract counts as not concluded, and there is no record of a rejection. However, you must go through the full health questions again. We recommend making the anonymous risk enquiry with alternatives before the withdrawal, not after it.

The date of receipt by the insurer counts. The declaration of withdrawal must have reached the insurer within the 14-day period. If you withdraw by post, you must allow enough time. With registered mail, receipt by the insurer counts, not the date of posting. By email, the date the insurer receives it is decisive.

The withdrawn contract counts as never concluded. This means no ageing reserves were built up. Ageing reserves only start to build up with a contract that continues permanently. Within the 14-day withdrawal window, this aspect plays no role in practice.