Arbeitgeberzuschuss

What is the Arbeitgeberzuschuss?

The Arbeitgeberzuschuss is the monthly amount your employer is legally required to pay toward your private health insurance (PKV) and compulsory long-term care insurance (Pflegepflichtversicherung). The legal basis is § 257 SGB V for health and § 61 SGB XI for care. Functionally, it is the PKV mirror of the 50 % contribution an employer would pay for a GKV employee.

Only employees (Angestellte) receive the subsidy. Freelancers, self-employed, and civil servants do not, they pay their full PKV premium alone, though civil servants receive Beihilfe from their public employer instead.

How it is calculated

The formula has two parts, an amount and a cap:

• Amount: half of your actual PKV premium (KV + PPV combined)

• Cap: half of the GKV maximum contribution at the current year's BBG

In 2026 the cap works out to:

• KV: €5,812.50 × 17.5 % ÷ 2 = €508.59 per month

• PPV: €5,812.50 × 3.6 % ÷ 2 = €104.63 per month

• Combined maximum: €613.22 per month

If your actual PKV premium is low enough, the employer pays a full 50 % split. If your premium is high enough that 50 % would exceed the cap, the employer pays only up to €613.22 and you cover the rest alone.

Concrete examples

A 32-year-old employee with a standard PKV premium of €520 per month (KV + PPV):

• Half of €520 = €260

• The cap is not hit: the employer pays €260, the employee pays €260 net

A 48-year-old employee with a premium of €1,400 per month including several supplementary modules:

• Half of €1,400 would be €700: but the cap is €613.22

• Employer pays €613.22

• Employee pays the remaining €786.78 alone

The cap is the reason premium tariffs at older ages start to feel expensive relative to the GKV. Up to the cap, a PKV member gets a roughly fair split. Above it, every additional euro is on the employee's tab.

Two quiet facts most expats miss

No subsidy during maternity or parental leave

During maternity leave (Mutterschutz) and parental leave (Elternzeit), the employer pays no wage in the tax sense, so there is no taxable base for the subsidy. The premium continues to run; the employee covers the full amount during that time. Some tariffs include a Beitragsbefreiung during parental allowance (Elterngeld), worth checking before you sign a new contract.

Unused cap can cover a privately insured child or spouse

If your own PKV premium does not exhaust the €613.22 cap, the unused portion can be redirected to a spouse or child who is also privately insured. The rule is that the combined household cap is €613.22 in 2026, not €613.22 per person.