Why Surenest?
Health Insurance in Germany
Irrespective of whether you were born in Germany or you recently moved here, health insurance in Germany is a complex topic. There are two systems for health insurance in Germany: statutory health insurance (GKV) and private health insurance (PKV). Moving between the two systems is complex. If you just moved to Germany and need to decide which system is the best for you, or if you are considering a switch, it is important to consider the pros and cons of each system and take a longer-term view before deciding which system is best for you. At Surenest, we believe that each system has its pros and cons and the ideal choice depends on one’s personal situation and preferences.
~75 million people or 90% of the country’s population is covered by statutory health insurance providers, with the remaining 10% privately insured. The statutory health insurance is a solidarity system, where your health insurance contributions depend on your income. The private health insurance, on the other hand, works on the equivalency principle in which the contributions depend on age and the type of cover you choose. To join PKV, you need to be a civil servant, self-employed, a student or an employee. An employee needs to earn above the annual wage limit (JAEG) to be eligible to get private health insurance. There is no income criteria for civil servants, students and self-employed.
There are three ways someone can be insured:
- Statutory Health Insurance (GKV)
- Statutory Health Insurance (GKV) + Supplementary Insurances
- Private Health Insurance (PKV)
Why is there a bias?
Statutory health insurance providers are restricted by law regarding how much they can pay to a sales partner. This is 118 € in 2026. Private health insurance providers, on the other hand, have no such restriction and are known to offer up to 40x the commission compared to what is possible in the statutory system. Although there are net tariffs (no inbuilt commissions) offered by private health insurance providers, these account for only around 0.47% of the available health insurance tariffs on the market.
Because of the commission structure, there is a bias to recommend private health insurance. That bias is a problem not because one system is better than the other, but rather because the bias fails to account one’s individual situation and long-term plans. That is the heart of Surenest’s mission - helping people figure out the best health insurance coverage for their needs for the longer-term.
Why we built Surenest?
We have experienced the commission-bias first hand. We have seen people make health insurance choices that they later regretted. This is especially true for health insurance because moving between the systems is so difficult. This is what inspired us build an insurance platform that we would recommend to our family. Our long-term goal is to build the go-to insurance platform for our customers, where they first understand their risk profile based on their personal situation and decide whether they really need an insurance for this risk. If they do, they can check the available options on the market through our website, understand the differences between different options without reading the 100+ page doc for each policy, get personalised recommendations and make an informed purchase.
How are we different from comparison portals and traditional brokers?
| Comparison Portals | Traditional Brokers | Surenest | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shows you the cheapest price | Yes | No | Yes |
| Explains what’s right for your situation | No | Depends (Can be biased) | Yes |
| Free of commission bias | No | No | Yes |
| Educates you before you decide | No | Rarely | Yes |
| Reads the fine print for you | No | Rarely | Yes (Coming soon) |
| Considers long-term cost (not just monthly premium) | No | Sometimes | Yes |
The problem with comparison portals
Comparison portals are designed to compare tariffs based on price, not to help you make an informed decision for your situation. They don’t ask about your long-term plans, family situation, or risk tolerance. For a single freelancer with a high income, the cheapest PKV tariff might be fine. For a family of five with a single-earning parent, it could be a disaster in 20 years.
The problem with traditional brokers
There are some amazing brokers out there who wouldn’t push a sale unless it’s necessary and would try to educate you before they make a sale. But we know from experience that those amazing brokers are rather a rarity instead of being the norm.
How do we solve these problems?
On our website, the users will answer a bunch of questions regarding their personal situation, understand their risk profile and see personalised recommendations. They will clearly see why we recommend a certain solution over the other. They can ask our AI helper (or a human one, if they wish) on how the different policy options vary in terms of services, without having to read each 100+ page policy document to understand the differences and make an informed choice.
Our beta version is already live. Here, the users can answer a bunch of questions regarding their personal situation and see what they need to consider before they make a decision between statutory and private health insurance. They can also use the calculator for lifelong premium projections in the statutory and the private system.
How do we make money?
To make our mission of building a transparent and unbiased platform, our revenue model would rely on 3 pillars: paid user tools & services, commissions and advertising.
- Paid user tools and services : When we mention paid user tools & services, an example would be a calculator where the user can see the lifelong premium projections based on the past trend. Another example would be regular policy reviews to check if there is a better or a cheaper option available on the market.
- Commissions : Since majority of the insurance products have commissions built into the product, it would be a source of revenue for us too. But our recommendation system is driven by what works for your situation and not what brings us the most commissions.
- Advertising : We will have a dedicated space for sponsored listings on our website, similar to a search engine.
Ready to see what this looks like in practice? Try our free self-assessment and calculator and get personalised considerations for your specific situation. You can also sign up for our waitlist when we start selling insurance here.