Buse Peker, an international student from Turkey, is sharing insights about the German health insurance system and describes the benefits she has received with her health insurance from DAK.
Last year, after a long application period, I was admitted to a master’s programme at Hochschule Fulda in Germany. The day that I received my acceptance letter, I felt so excited! But then I realised what bureaucratic steps I had to take. I found out that when applying for a student visa, I have to open a blocked account and register for health insurance. At this point, things got complicated for me.
In Germany, every person is obliged to have a health insurance.
Whether governmental or private, everyone needs to benefit from the German healthcare system. But for entering the country, the authority abroad will ask you to provide Travel Health insurance for, at least in my case, three months. But if you are planning to enroll at a German university, a Travel Health Insurance will no longer be accepted. Therefore, if you don’t have a governmental or private health insurance, you won’t be able to enroll. So, you see – this insurance system and the process could be a little complicated and exhausting. Therefore, I would like to share my experience with you in order to support you if you are currently in the same situation.
I was made aware of Fintiba by a friend.
He had already completed the Fintiba Plus package for his studies in Germany and said that he was very satisfied with it. Apparently, he didn’t have to worry about much, because Fintiba took over the health insurance planning for his stay. Since this sounded like exactly what I was looking for – a simple solution that made all the paperwork and information research easier for me, I also chose the Fintiba Plus package. And looking back, this was the best decision I could make.
The Package will include a Travel Health Insurance that will be valid for the first three months of your stay in Germany. As soon as you enroll at university, the governmental health insurance will be activated. And in case you don’t enroll within the first three months, the time between your enrolment and after your travel health insurance has expired will be covered by private health insurance.
Now imagine, you have to organise everything on your own – what a nightmare.
Luckily, all I had to do is following the steps that were displayed in my Fintiba App which I downloaded to my Phone. I even got push notifications every time I had to do something or if a status changed. Very convenient, if you ask me.
In addition, you don’t need to go anywhere else concerning your insurance in Germany and if you have any questions about your insurance, you can always get assistance from the DAK or the Fintiba support team. When I contacted the DAK customer service about insurance coverage, I was surprised that they were able to even support me in my first language (Turkish). I found out that their service includes a variety of language options.
Since I arrived in Germany, I never had a problem with my health insurance.
If you’re a foreigner in a country, it’s always good to feel safe in case you get sick and need to see a doctor. I think one of the best advantages of DAK is the Doctor video chat. Once when I was sick and didn’t even want to go out to see a doctor, I decided to try this video chat and see if it works. The expert in the field gave me some medical advice that might be useful and asked me if I need an appointment for the next days. So, I even had the chance to book an appointment for a check-up. The whole process was pretty easy and practical and of course, less tiring than going to the hospital when you are ill. So, whenever you have questions about the insurance system, you can call them and ask, they will assist you.
So, as you can see, I would highly recommend the Fintiba Plus package if you want to be sure that nothing gets in the way of your studies in Germany and you want to benefit from many advantages!
