KV/PV payments as a pensioner

[Jason1788]

As my retirement looms, I have been calculating my future Krankenversicherung and Pflegeversicherung costs. If I read it all correctly, I am liable for KV&PV payments not only on German & foreign state pension income, but all other income including from investments, rental, private pensions (German & foreign) even photovoltaic buy-back income. If this isn't bad enough, only the German and foreign state pensions qualify for the usual 50% "employee" reduction, whereas all others are subject to the full 14.6% for KV, plus the KV "additional percentage", plus 4.2% PV (higher "no children" rate) which in my case adds up to 21.25%. All this means that whilst my retirement income is significantly less than when I was employed, whilst my KV/PV costs are significantly higher.

If I am correct in all this, is there any legitimate way of reducing this liability?

[PandaMunich]

That would only be true if you were a voluntary member of public health insurance once you retire.

However, I assume that once you retire, you will be a member of the KVdR, i.e. a mandatory member of public health insurance.
To find out what the KVdR is, please read this: viewtopic.php?p=2157&hilit=kvdr#p2157
and this Finanztip article:

• in German: https://www.finanztip.de/gkv/krankenver ... r-rentner/

• machine-translated into English: https://www-finanztip-de.translate.goog ... r_pto=wapp

--> you will only have to pay (7.3% + 0.5*Zusatzbeitrag) for public health insurance and 4.2% public nursing insurance on your German and foreign social security pensions. And nothing on that other income.

[Jason1788]

Thanks Panda for the reply. That would be great news if it applied to me. I did apply for KVdR, but I was told I don't fulfill the so-called prior insurance period. It says I need to have been a member of the statutory health insurance scheme for 90% of the second half of the framework period (from the start of gainful employment to start of retirement). I must admit I don't quite understand this as would think that my UK National Insurance payments should qualify as a statutory health insurance scheme.

Basically I started gainful employment in 1985 and paid UK National Insurance until 2023 with only about 4 years missing (2012-2015). My KV membership (with TK) has been from 2013-2025 so really there is only one year missing (2012) so that should be approx 19/20 years of the 2nd half, ie 96%. I think I need to clarify with TK whether UK National Insurance counts as a statutory health insurance scheme.

[PandaMunich]

Membership in the NHS counts as "membership in an EU public health insurance", so go back to Techniker and get them to acknowledge your KVdR status.

[yesterday]

But paying NI does not give you the benefits of the NHS.

National Insurance covers you for the following

National Insurance contributions count towards the benefits and pensions in the table.

Screenshot 2025-09-15 133943.png (56.99 KiB) Viewed 1543 times

OR see web site of https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance/w ... nce-is-for

So National insurance is really only for your UK state pension + plus a few other odds and ends, but not NHS or medical cover.

The NHS is funded from the general taxation, you only get this if you live in the UK for more than half a year, each year and of course pay tax in the UK.

See here https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/health ... ealthcare/

So I would assume, you have not being paying into the State NHS while you have been abroad.

[MarkMTB]

See https://www.deutsche-rentenversicherung ... _kvdr.html

When assessing membership in the pensioners' health insurance scheme, all British insurance periods are taken into account in addition to German ones.

[Jason1788]

Well I did get a reply from TK that they accepted my NI contribution record as evidence of membership of a state health insurance system, and that I am now pflichtig versichert. Thanks Panda!

[PandaMunich]

You're welcome

[silty2]

Hi and a Happy New Year to you all, be you retired, pensioned off, or just the retiring type.

Picking up on this thread, having retired about three years ago and cobbled together no less than three pensions from Canada, as a KVdR member I'm handing over to my KK about 18% of the gross amount of two of the monthly pensions already.

The third pension, Old Age Security (OAS) has taken ages and ages to set up. I applied more than two years ago, and have only now received a first payment.

The bank statement shows the funds landing in my account December 15, 2025.

The OAS statement says the money is for the period March 1 to March 31, 2025, but (see above) I only received it a couple of weeks ago.

Question: Is the KK going to calculate its 18% on the exchange rate for December 15, 2025, or for the month of March, 2025? This makes a difference, because not only has the value of the Loonie dived nearly 10%, but OAS still owes me another 9 months of pension for 2025.

Question 2, sort of related: One of my pensions will be boosted by the princely amount of 2% starting this month. I will inform the KK of this. Will they then re-calculate at the going exchange rate, or will I be stuck with a clearly unfavorable rate set just before the Loonie started its plunge?

PS: fellow Canucks have casually informed me they have been receiving Canada Pension and OAS pensions, but have not been telling their KK. Should I tell them they are potentially in deep shit, or, like I suspect, am I the dumb honest one?

[Jason1788]

...... you will only have to pay (7.3% + 0.5*Zusatzbeitrag) for public health insurance and 4.2% public nursing insurance on your German and foreign social security pensions. And nothing on that other income.

Are you sure about this? Since October 2025 I am also receiving a small Betriebsrente and TK have just written to me saying that it's KV & PV -pflichtig. It's less than the lower limit (€187/month for 2025) so I don't actually pay anything, but in the future I will receive German and foreign private pensions which will exceed the lower limit. I know that these payments will be steuerpflichtig, but also KV & PV-pflichtig?

[PandaMunich]

...... you will only have to pay (7.3% + 0.5*Zusatzbeitrag) for public health insurance and 4.2% public nursing insurance on your German and foreign social security pensions. And nothing on that other income.

Are you sure about this? Since October 2025 I am also receiving a small Betriebsrente and TK have just written to me saying that it's KV & PV -pflichtig. It's less than the lower limit (€187/month for 2025) so I don't actually pay anything, but in the future I will receive German and foreign private pensions which will exceed the lower limit. I know that these payments will be steuerpflichtig, but also KV & PV-pflichtig?

A Betriebsrente (company pension) is not a private pension.
You hadn't disclosed before that you get a Betriebsrente.
You only have to pay public health insurance contributions on the part of your Betriebsrente that exceeds the amount of 197.75€ (in 2026, this amount only applies to Betriebsrenten), if you are a mandatory member of public health insurance, which you are, you are in the KVdR. Voluntary members have to pay health insurance contributions from the first € of their Betriebsrente.

You always have to pay public nursing insurance (Pflegeversicherung) contributions from the first € of your Betriebsrente, the 197.75€ don't count for public nursing insurance: https://www.tk.de/techniker/versicherun ... rt-2076770
Please also read: https://www-test-de.translate.goog/Betr ... r_pto=wapp

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As a mandatory member of public health insurance, you do not have to pay contributions on your private pensions, please see: https://rentenbescheid24-de.translate.g ... r_pto=wapp

• Pflicht­versicherte in der KVdR und privat Krankenversicherte müssen keine Beiträge an ihre Krankenkasse abführen, wenn sie Renteneinnahmen aus einer privaten Renten­ver­sicherung oder Lebens­ver­sicherung erhalten. Bei Betriebs­renten sieht die Rechtslage für KVdR-Rentner aber anders aus!

• Those with mandatory statutory health insurance for pensioners (KVdR) and those with private health insurance do not have to pay contributions to their health insurance fund if they receive pension income from a private pension or life insurance policy. However, the legal situation is different for KVdR pensioners with company pensions!

[Jason1788]

Thanks for the clarification !