Tarifwechsel

What is a Tarifwechsel?

A Tarifwechsel is the act of changing from one PKV tariff to another inside your current insurer. It is not the same as an Anbieterwechsel, which moves the contract to a different insurer entirely.

The distinction is crucial: a Tarifwechsel preserves your ageing provisions in full and does not require a new health assessment (for equivalent or lower coverage). An Anbieterwechsel transfers only the Basistarif-equivalent portion of your reserve and requires a full Gesundheitsprüfung. In nine out of ten cases where a PKV member wants to reduce their premium, a Tarifwechsel is the better tool.

What happens to the reserve

Your Altersrückstellung, the capital reserve built over years of premiums, stays with you during a Tarifwechsel. The insurer recalculates the tariff you are moving into, using your accumulated reserve as an offset. The calendar age at which you originally entered the PKV remains the reference point for the base tariff.

For an older member with a reserve of several thousand euros, this preservation is worth far more than the nominal savings of an Anbieterwechsel. Switching insurers at 50+ means leaving behind most of that capital. Tarifwechsel keeps it working for you.

Equivalent, lower, and higher tariffs

The rules depend on which way you are moving:

• Equivalent or lower benefits: no new Gesundheitsprüfung. The insurer must accept the switch on request. Typical reasons: reducing premium in response to a Beitragsanpassung, simplifying coverage, moving to a tariff with a higher Selbstbeteiligung

• Higher benefits: the insurer may require underwriting for the extra benefit only. For example, adding chief-physician cover to a tariff that previously did not include it triggers health questions specific to that feature. The base tariff portion stays unchanged

• Waiting periods: typically do not restart for equivalent or lower coverage. For a genuine upgrade, waiting periods may apply to the new additional benefits

The 'Haustarif' question

Insurers often maintain internal tariffs that are equivalent in coverage to the current market products but calculated with updated assumptions, and priced lower. These are sometimes informally called "Haustarife" or "Interntarife". They are not advertised, but the § 204 VVG right of Tarifwechsel, supported by BaFin guidance and case law, gives you access to them.

The insurer is legally required to inform you of available alternative tariffs on request. A written query asking for "alle Tarife mit vergleichbaren Leistungen" puts the burden on them to respond with the full internal list. Many members discover a tariff with the same benefits at a notably lower price this way.

When to use it: the typical triggers

• After a Beitragsanpassung. The Sonderkündigungsrecht's 2-month window is the natural moment to evaluate a Tarifwechsel as a premium-reduction alternative

• Life changes that reduce need for a feature. Retirement removes the need for Krankentagegeld. A career change may make chief-physician cover less valued

• Selbstbeteiligung adjustments. Moving from a €0 SB to a €600 or €1,200 SB typically saves 10-20 % of the base premium without any coverage change beyond the deductible itself

• Consolidating optional modules. Dropping add-ons that are no longer used

What it is not

Tarifwechsel is not a tool to:

• Switch insurers: use Anbieterwechsel for that

• Remove a Risikozuschlag from your existing tariff: those are attached to your original underwriting and continue into any new internal tariff with equivalent coverage

• Change ageing provisions: they are preserved automatically

The structured process

A clean Tarifwechsel typically takes 2-3 months from request to effective date:

1. Written request for a full list of equivalent-benefit tariffs under § 204 VVG. The insurer must respond within a reasonable time. 2. Review with a broker, the insurer's list is often long and hard to compare without help 3. Choose a target tariff, usually trading some benefit flexibility for a lower premium, or vice versa 4. Sign the switch request, formal acceptance from the insurer 5. Effective date, usually the 1st of the following month

Unlike a Beitragsanpassung, which comes to you, a Tarifwechsel is something you initiate. Insurers rarely push it because it reduces their revenue; the member (or their broker) has to drive the process.