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Change your public health insurance in December

As mentioned in our previous newsletters, health insurance is getting expensive in 2025. Unfortunately, public health insurance is getting more expensive than private health insurance for high earners.

The public health insurance contribution of high earners will increase from 1019.5€ to 1141€ in 2025.

This is an increase of 12%. 🤯

Those not earning above the maximum income limit will also pay higher health insurance contributions in 2025. They will pay 5% more in 2025.

Here is a breakdown for you

What can you do about it?

You have the following options.

• High earners should consider a move to private health insurance. You can book a free call with a health insurance broker we recommend to explore your options and see if the move makes sense.
• Change your public health insurance provider. 95% of the coverage of all public health insurers is the same. So, switching to an insurer with low "additional contribution" makes sense. We find TK the best public insurer for expats in Germany. You can use our free service to switch to TK in just 2 minutes.

New rent calculator to identify if you are overpaying

The German political party "die Linke" has launched a new rent gouging calculator for the cities of Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig, and Freiburg.

You can use this calculator to compare your current rent with the local comparative rent. This will help you determine whether your rent is too high and needs to be reduced.

The best part is that "die Linke" has simplified the calculator. You only have to answer a couple of questions to check if you are paying high rent.

To make it even better, if you pay high rent, you don't have to take any action yourself. You just need to click on the button "Inform the relevant housing authority."

That's it!

The authority will investigate and contact you for further information.

If the suspicion is confirmed, the authority will take the following actions.

• Impose a fine on the landlord.
• Reduce your rent
• Reclaim the overpaid rent retroactively.

What is the legal basis for this?

• If your rent is 20% higher than the local comparative rent, it's an administrative offense. In this case, the landlord faces a fine of up to €50,000.
• Suppose you pay 50% more than the local comparative rent. This can be a criminal offense with harsher penalties, and the landlord could even end up in prison.

Is your German citizenship application stuck for more than 6 months?

You can sue the immigration office for "inaction to act" if you haven't heard from them in six months. As per German law, government authorities must take action in a timely manner at the user's request. If the authority fails to do so, you can sue them.

Many people who have applied for German citizenship wait over six months to know the application status. If you are one of them, you can sue the immigration office.

If you win the case (i.e., get German citizenship), you can claim that the immigration authority pays your legal fees.

To make things simple, we have collaborated with an immigration lawyer who supports expats in filing a lawsuit against the immigration office. You can book the lawyer's services directly on our platform.

If you have legal insurance, you can check if they cover the legal fees. Otherwise, you have to pay the fees yourself first, and later, you can claim the fees from the immigration office if you win the case.

Community Shoutouts!

• GermanPedia is growing, and we are happy to introduce our newest member, "Trizia." She is a mass communication graduate who began her writing journey as a student journalist and has been freelance writing since 2019. Trizia joined us in Dec. and will support us in achieving our mission to make the knowledge and tools that locals have accessible to expats.
• We had no shoutouts from our lovely community last week. However, I look forward to hearing many stories from you this week. Submit your story now! 😊

Whether it's a must-visit place, a life hack, or an inspiring story, we’d love to hear from you.

Your feedback matters

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