Health insurance and pension in Germany

• I am a retired Canadian, married to a Dutch, who has a EU Dutch passport. I am 65 and she is 58.We are currently living in Quebec.
  
  We are thinking of living in the Eifel area of Germany.Our main questions are, How do we get the Health coverage for both of us ? Does the German Health system cover us ?
  
  Also about the Social system. During my working life I have worked in Germany for three years on an assignment basis. Would I be eligible for the German Old age security prnsion ? I was told that there is a agreement between Canada and Germany in regards to this matter.
  
  Please help us, if you can with your advise.
  We thank you for your help,
  Elisabeth and Shafi Syed
  

  23 Nov 2004, 01:46 Anonymous

Replies

• Difficult question

  The German health insurance will not automatically pay your medical cost. Even for the state insurance, you have to pay your monthly contributions to get covered (there is no such thing as "free" insurance in Germany). The question is also whether you're even eligibel for state insurance (which I don't think). If not, you have to get a private insurance, for which contributions at your age are rocket-high..
  
  As for the pension insurance, a working period of 3 years will not entitle you to a pension from which you could live. However, you should check with the German embassy whether there is a bilateral agreement between Canada and Germany. If there is one, your contributions to the pension insurance in Canada could be taken into account upon calculation of your pension payments in Germany.

  Anonymous 27 Nov 2004, 12:17 - Report