Former temporary soldiers and statutory health and nursing care insurance

Social security assessment of former regular soldiers

The Act on the Relief of Insured Persons (VEG) provides for certain regulations for temporary soldiers who leave their service in order to give them more generous access to a statutory health insurance plan. These regulations are also intended to support them in terms of contribution law.

Accession opportunities

For temporary soldiers who are 31 years of age or older.12.retire from their service relationship in 2018, Section 9 para. 1 sentence 1 no. 8 of the German Social Security Code, Part V (SGB V), which allows you to join the statutory health insurance within three months of leaving active service. The departing soldier must notify the health insurance fund of his or her wish to join the voluntary health insurance scheme within this period or. report. The health insurance funds have appropriate forms available for this notification. The temporary soldier must prove eligibility for membership by submitting the notification of the duration of his or her service relationship. If the voluntary insurance comes into effect, it begins on the day after the person leaves employment.

catch-all insurance

If temporary soldiers leave their employment and have failed to apply for voluntary insurance, they are nevertheless covered by a catch-all insurance in accordance with Section 5 para. 1 no. 13 SGB V secured. However, this standard insurance only exists if there was statutory health insurance prior to their service as a soldier and no other coverage for the event of illness was established after their service relationship.

If you have a qualifying insurance in private health insurance, this does not exclude the possibility of joining voluntarily.

The catch-all insurance must also be reported to the health insurance company with an appropriate form and proof of the length of service; it then also begins on the day after the employee leaves employment

Transitional regulation for privately insured temporary soldiers

Former regular soldiers who were privately insured also have the option of joining the statutory health insurance (§ 324 SGB V). However, this is subject to the following conditions.

The 55. The age limit must already be reached before 01.01.have been completed in 2019.

The regular soldier must have been insured since the age of 15.03.2012 but before 31.12.have left his employment in 2018.

Notification of voluntary enlistment must be submitted by 31 December at the latest.03.take place in 2020.

Even in such cases, the desire to join the voluntary health insurance must be reported to the health insurance company with the appropriate form as well as proof of length of service. However, the start of membership can be determined here by the insured person. If no special start date is specified here, membership begins with the receipt of the application by the health insurance fund.

Exclusion from exemption from insurance

As a general rule, persons who take up employment after reaching the age of 55 are subject to the. If the employee is under the age of 65, he or she is exempt from insurance if he or she has not been insured under the statutory health insurance scheme in the last five years before becoming subject to compulsory insurance. A further requirement is that these persons must have been exempt from insurance for at least half of this period, exempt from compulsory insurance or exempt from compulsory insurance in accordance with Section 5 (2). 5 SGB V, you are not required to be insured or to join the statutory health insurance. were self-employed on a full-time basis (§ 6 para. 3 a SGB V).

However, the employment taken up during this period will not be exempt from insurance if, after leaving the employment, the employee declares his or her wish to join the health insurance scheme or if a catch-all insurance scheme has been established.

If the former regular soldier takes up employment directly following his service, there is no insurance obligation for this employment, but he has the option to declare his membership or to claim the insurance obligation in the standard insurance policy.

prospective insurance

In principle, for persons whose compulsory insurance ends, the insurance continues as voluntary membership as of the day after the member ceases to be compulsorily insured, unless the member declares his or her resignation within two weeks of being informed by the health insurance fund of the possibility of resigning (Section 188 para. 4 SGB V).

This is also the case for persons who leave the compulsory health insurance and enter a service relationship as a regular soldier. These persons are then insured elsewhere and can therefore declare their resignation in order to avoid the voluntary insurance mentioned above. However, such persons also have the option of remaining insured under the statutory health insurance scheme, namely under the Anwartschaftstarif (qualifying tariff). If the employment relationship ends at some point, this insurance can be continued as normal voluntary health insurance.

Long-term care insurance coverage

If a beneficiary joins the health insurance scheme, he or she automatically becomes liable to pay contributions to the long-term care insurance scheme. Here § 21 No. According to § 6 of the German Social Security Code (SGB XI), persons who have been appointed to the service of a temporary soldier are subject to compulsory long-term care insurance if they are not insured against the risk of illness either in the statutory health insurance system or with a private health insurance company.

Regulation for the assessment of contributions

Income subject to contributions in the case of temporary soldiers includes:

• the transitional allowances,
• the pension sickness allowance, and
• other remuneration.

Transitional allowances

After leaving the service, regular soldiers continue to receive transitional allowances for up to five years, depending on the length of their service. These service fees are liable for contributions to health and long-term care insurance in the full amount of the payment and must be documented accordingly with a salary statement.

Pension sick pay

Temporary soldiers who are discharged from their service in an incapacitated condition do not receive a transitional allowance, but a sickness benefit (§ 16 BVG). Like the service allowance, the full amount of this allowance is subject to health and long-term care insurance contributions and must be documented accordingly in a pay statement.

Other emoluments

After the end of their period of service, temporary soldiers receive a transitional allowance (§ 12 SVG). Voluntarily joined persons do not have to pay contributions from this transitional allowance. There is no obligation to pay contributions here, because the transitional allowance is attributed to the employment relationship.

There is, however, an exception to this rule, namely if the member has already been subject to compulsory long-term care insurance for the duration of the period of service. In this case, contributions must also be paid for this one-time payment (transitional allowance.

It is also important to note here that the provision on the treatment of income of the spouse under § 2 para. 4 of the Contribution Procedure Principles, in the case of voluntarily insured temporary soldiers or. also applies to former temporary soldiers.

Contribution allowances

Up to now, there has been an entitlement to allowances for the duration of the payment of transitional allowances to the former employer. This has now changed to the effect that a contribution subsidy for health and long-term care insurance is granted for voluntary health insurance, long-term care insurance and catch-up insurance.

This contribution subsidy is paid by the employer in the amount of half the contribution to statutory health and long-term care insurance from the payment amount of the transitional allowance. The same procedure is followed for the contribution subsidy in the case of pension sick pay. It is important to note that the contribution allowance itself is not subject to compulsory contributions.

In order for a contribution subsidy to be paid by the employer, the employer must be provided with the relevant proof. If the contribution is calculated only from the transition fees, a contribution notice from the health insurance company is sufficient. If there is additional income, a separate certificate must be submitted.

Contribution subsidy for former regular soldiers

Former temporary soldiers, if they meet the requirements for exemption from insurance under sec. 6 para. If the employee fulfills the requirements of Section 3 a of the German Social Code, Book V, and therefore joins a voluntary health insurance plan, he or she is entitled to payment of a contribution subsidy from the employer. In this case, the employer is obliged to pay the contribution subsidy in the same amount as the contribution of another employee who is subject to compulsory insurance. The same applies to the transitional regulations for privately insured temporary soldiers according to § 324 SGB V (see above).

Waiver of premium subsidies

The contribution subsidy for health and long-term care insurance is generally non-contributory. The contribution subsidy is not only the employer contribution subsidy, but also the contribution subsidy by the former employer. There is an exception, however, if the person is employed in a job from which he or she earns more than the annual income threshold. It is also important to note that the total contribution subsidy is calculated at most from the contribution assessment ceiling. A comparative calculation may be necessary here (see § 22 SGB IV)