Voluntary membership: what you pay and why
With no income, voluntary members pay at least €270 a month in 2026; with income, 14 % or 14.6 % plus the fund’s additional rate and care insurance.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Your contribution as a voluntary member
Monthly contribution, health and care
€270
| Assessed income | €1,318.33 |
| Health insurance | €223 |
| Care insurance | €47 |
| Minimum base applies | yes |
Calculated with the 2026 average additional rate and one child.
A voluntary member (freiwilliges Mitglied) of German statutory health insurance is someone who is not compulsorily insured but stays in the system anyway: employees earning above the compulsory insurance threshold of €77,400 a year (provisionally €84,150 in 2027), the self-employed, civil servants who keep statutory cover, and people without earned income who cannot be covered through family. Contributions follow the member’s overall ability to pay (section 240 of Book V of the Social Code, SGB V): pay, profit, rent, investment income and pensions all count. At least €1,318.33 a month is assessed, at most the contribution ceiling of €5,812.50. Without sick pay the reduced rate of 14 % applies, with sick pay 14.6 %, each plus the fund’s additional rate. With the 2.9 % average that makes a minimum of €270 and a maximum of €1,192 a month in 2026 for health and care insurance together.
Who counts as a voluntary member
Statutory health insurance has two kinds of members. Compulsory members pay on one source of income, usually wages or a pension, and the employer or the pension fund carries half. Voluntary members are in on their own account, because they have left compulsory cover or were never in it. Four groups are typical: employees whose regular annual pay is above €77,400; the self-employed; people without earned income, for instance after a divorce or after university; and civil servants who choose to stay in a statutory fund. When compulsory cover ends and nothing else follows, the fund continues your membership as voluntary automatically, unless you leave within two weeks and prove other cover.
For employees little changes day to day: the employer still deducts the contribution from pay and adds its subsidy. For everyone without an employer a lot changes, because they carry the whole contribution and must prove their income to the fund themselves.
Which income counts
What matters is overall ability to pay. The details are set by the GKV-Spitzenverband in its rules for self-paying members, as section 240(1) SGB V delegates. Anything available for living costs counts: self-employed earnings, wages, state and company pensions, rental income, investment income. Some things do not, such as the part of the start-up grant meant for social security, or care allowance passed on to a family carer. There are no reductions for children or marital status. If your spouse is privately insured and earns more, the fund may take part of that income into account; section 240(5) sets deductions per child.
| Income a month | assessed | Contribution without sick pay |
|---|---|---|
| €800 | €1,318 | €270 |
| €1,500 | €1,500 | €308 |
| €2,500 | €2,500 | €513 |
| €4,000 | €4,000 | €820 |
| €11,625 | €5,813 | €1,192 |
The table shows both limits plainly: below €1,318 the contribution is always the same, and above €5,813 it is too. In between it grows by the same percentage with every euro of income.
Provisional first, final later: the tax assessment
For self-employed and rental income, the fund only knows the figure once the tax office has set it. So it fixes your contribution provisionally, based on your latest income tax assessment, from the month after it was issued (section 240(4a) SGB V). If you are just starting out, you state expected income. Once the assessment for that year arrives, the fund settles up: earn more and you pay extra, earn less and you get money back. Anyone who does not produce the assessment within three years of the year’s end, when asked, pays the maximum for good. Putting money aside in good years is wise.
With or without sick pay
Employees above the compulsory threshold are entitled to sick pay and pay 14.6 %. The self-employed and members without earned income pay the reduced 14 % without sick pay (section 243 SGB V). The self-employed can opt in to statutory sick pay from the seventh week and then pay the general rate; on €2,500 profit that costs €15 a month more. The fund’s additional rate comes on top in full in both cases, as no employer shares it.
Three costly mistakes
First, sitting on the tax assessment. The fund asks for it, and anyone who does not reply ends up on the maximum contribution, even if real income was modest. Second, not reporting a change in income. If turnover collapses, you keep paying provisionally on the last assessment; the fund settles finally on the tax assessment for that year and refunds any overpayment (section 240(4a), sentence 3 SGB V). Third, overlooking family cover. If you are married and have little or no income, check whether you can be covered free of charge through your spouse before becoming a voluntary member; that saves at least the minimum contribution. Switching fund works with the same deadlines as for everyone else, but the additional rate weighs twice as much for you, because nobody shares it.
2027: what shifts
Under the cabinet decision of 7 October 2026 the minimum base rises to €1,376.67 a month in 2027, lifting the minimum contribution to €282 at the average rate and today’s fund rates. The health contribution ceiling rises to €6,375, the care ceiling under current law only to €6,075. High earners therefore pay more, and so, because of the higher minimum base, do low earners. Which fund costs least is shown by the calculator covering every fund; self-employed members have a dedicated calculator with the sick-pay option.