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DE Tax 2024

Accident insurance

Occupational accident insurance covers you for accidents while working and is paid by your employer. Regardless of what you earn, you are automatically covered if you are employed or undergoing training.

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How you are insured at your place of work?

Statutory occupational accident insurance also covers students, as well as children in schools and nursery schools.

If you are a businessperson, freelancer or self-employed you may not be legally required to have insurance. However, you can get voluntary insurance for yourself as well as your spouse if he/she works with you.

If an occupational accident or occupational illness should occur the state occupational accident insurance will cover:

  • Payment for full medical treatment
  • Occupational integration assistance (including retraining if necessary)
  • Social integration assistance and supplementary assistance
  • Cash benefits to the insured and their surviving dependents.

A policy for accidental death or 100% disablement should provide cover for 5-6 times the insured's annual income.

Death is self explanatory, but there is a table of compensation rates for damage to and or loss of individual body parts.

For instance, blindness in both eyes could receive compensation of up to 100% of the total insured sum, whereas the loss of a leg up to the knee could result in compensation of up to 50% and the loss of a finger up to 30%. You should refer to the details of your own individual policy to review these figures.

Many accident insurance policies will also pay benefits in the event of an insured child swallowing a poisonous substance.

This insurance must not be confused with occupational disability, critical illness or income replacement cover. Benefits under an accident insurance policy will not be paid if you become disabled due to an illness.

You should be aware that German accident insurances with a multi-year term cannot be cancelled before the term is up. An insurance provider selling these term contracts will receive a higher commission for locking a client into a multi-year product. Most advice suggests using only annually renewable accident polices.

What are the benefits of occupational accident insurance?

Statutory occupational accident insurance undertakes measures to prevent job-related accidents and illnesses as well as to protect workers from on-the-job hazards.

In cases where occupational accidents or illnesses do occur, accident insurance provides assistance toward restoring the health and working ability of the persons involved and compensation to the insured persons or their survivors through the provision of cash benefits.

The primary mission of statutory occupational accident insurance according to the legislation is the use all means at its disposal to prevent occupational accidents and illness from occurring in the first place and to minimize potential job-related hazards. The focus is placed on help and advice to companies in all matters relating to industrial safety and health and safety in the work place.

This includes providing employers and employees with comprehensive instructions and guidelines, as well as all related international media. The accident insurance agencies also hold free informational data on health and safety at work.

The main priority of the accident insurance fund is to restore the health and ability to work of the insured person Pensions are paid to fund members only when it is not possible to fully restore their ability to work, i.e. for those whose earning capacity is reduced by at least 20%.

What are the apportionments of costs?

The employers fund preventive measures, rehabilitation and compensation are paid in full by the employer.

Premium levels correspond to the necessary expenditure in the preceding year (adjusted contribution procedure). These premiums are thus calculated retrospectively for each year (full calendar year).

The statutory accident insurance system does not generate a profit; only the actual costs are apportioned.

Accident insurance costs falling within the responsibility of the fund of the Federal government and the accident insurance institutions responsible for the regional and local authorities are borne by the relevant insured bodies responsible for the regions concerned and financed essentially through tax revenues.

The person managing the household must pay the premiums for insured individuals in private households.