Social Security and Insurance

The range of insurance available in Germany is wide; some insurance coverage (such as health insurance) is required by law, but in many other areas it is up to you to decide how much risk you want to bear yourself, or whether you want to insure yourself against loss. The first major difference to understand is the one between social insurance (Sozialversicherung) and private insurance (private Versicherung).

Social insurance (called social security in some countries) is required by law. As an alternative, there are also private insurance schemes available for many of these areas, particularly health care, pensions and accident and long-term nursing. It is worth considering taking out private insurance in one of these areas or even a supplement to the statutory coverage if:

• You have no statutory coverage (e.g. grant holders)
• You would like to have coverage that goes beyond the level offered by the statutory insurance (e.g. private health insurance vs. statutory health insurance)

Whether you have to make social insurance payments depends on your personal status. If you are a regular employee at CISPA, you are liable to contribute to social insurance. Grant holders and short-term employees as well as some special interns are generally not liable.

Here is a quick overview on social insurance funds:

1. Health insurance and long-term nursing insurance
2. Statutory pension scheme
3. Statutory accident insurance (accidents at work)
4. Unemployment insurance

If you have never worked with social security, your social security number will be requested by your employer (CISPA) when you receive your first payslip. You will then find the social security number on every payslip; it is usually indicated under the abbreviation “SV Nummer.”