As a well-paid single, 30-year-old Andreas Gruber from Erding, Bavaria, did not hesitate for a second to take out private health insurance.

The premium was temptingly cheap.

Today, five years and two premium increases later, the IT manager wants nothing like getting out of the contract.

Ever since he started getting married and starting a family, it has dawned on him that private insurance is much more expensive than expected.

As an employee, there is really only one viable way to get back on the legal track: forego wages and work part-time.

What was previously out of the question for Gruber because it was uncertain to return to the old salary, has been a real option since this year.

Too expensive: More and more Germans are turning their backs on private insurance

Source: WORLD infographic

The new bridge part-time work now not only offers the guarantee of the old full-time work.

At the same time, it opens up a new loophole to elegantly get rid of expensive private insurance - but not for every employee willing to change.

The part-time trick basically works like this: If you want to go back to statutory health insurance (GKV), you have to reduce your regular gross income so much that it falls below the so-called annual income limit (JAEG).

It is currently 60,750 euros gross per year.

If an employee slips even one euro below this limit with his earnings, he is no longer allowed to stay in the private sector and immediately becomes subject to statutory health insurance, as Bastian Landorff from the Bavarian consumer organization explains.

The employee can then switch to a health insurance company of his choice.

For all those who were already private patients on December 31, 2002, the special gross wage limit of 54,450 euros applies in 2019.

Retirement provisions are lost

Anyone who, like Andreas Gruber, absolutely wants to return to the statutory health insurance scheme must first accept a proper wage waiver with the help of part-time work.

In such a way that his gross wage, extrapolated to twelve months, drops below the JAEG, as Uwe Rauhöft, managing director of the Federal Association of Wage Tax Aid Associations (BDL) explains.

“That has to be considered carefully, not everyone will be able to afford it,” says Julika Unger, health insurance expert at the Rhineland-Palatinate consumer center.

A wage waiver should always be well calculated.

Pension entitlements also decrease with the salary.

Additional hook: The old-age provisions that are set up in private health insurance and can amount to a few thousand euros after many years are usually lost when switching.

In return, the private health policy can be shaken off for the rest of life in most cases.

Because: Anyone who is back in the GKV can stay even when part-time work comes to an end, the salary is higher again and increases through the JAEG.

The well-paid employees then have to take out voluntary statutory insurance.

Up to now, the escape from private health insurance by reducing working hours has only been a real option for very few.

Most of those who would have turned their backs on their expensive private insurance today rather than tomorrow feared the part-time trap: Anyone who had once switched from full-time to part-time couldn't easily get back to their old workload - and their old wages - without the goodwill of their boss .

There was no statutory right of return.

That changed with the introduction of part-time bridge work.

Company size matters

What is new now is that employees can automatically return to the old number of hours in the company after their part-time phase has expired.

This guarantee is laid down in the new Section 9a of the Part-Time and Temporary Employment Act, the so-called part-time bridge.

It creates security.

But: The new regulation does not apply to every company.

Only those who have been employed in a company with more than 45 employees for more than six months are entitled.

Only these employees can work part-time for a limited period

Apply for at least one year - and thus also tackle the exit from private health insurance, depending on the individual case.

Anyone who is one of the 14 million people who work in smaller companies nationwide is unlucky.

The law does not apply to them.

The new door opener to statutory health insurance is still an insider tip.

IT specialist Gruber, who works for a large supplier in the automotive industry, found out about his luck by chance.

His employer has been offering part-time bridge work since January 1st.

Basically, it is now important to hurry up and do thorough math, emphasizes Kaja Keller, labor lawyer at the Berlin law firm Gansel: "For the part-time bridge, you have to pay attention to the timing twice." Once when applying to the company.

Only those who are early will get it approved.

Because: For companies with 46 to 200 employees, there are limits to what is reasonable.

If ten of the 150 employees are already on the bridge part-time, the boss may reject the eleventh application.

Only in large companies with over 200 employees does this hurdle not exist.

Returning to SHI can be expensive

And the second counts when you return to statutory health insurance.

With a view to the later retirement age, those willing to change should carefully weigh up whether the part-time bridge is worthwhile as a loophole, as specialist lawyer Keller emphasizes.

Because: Only those who have been a member of a health insurance company or co-insured for at least 90 percent of the time in the second half of their working life can take out the affordable health insurance for pensioners (KVdR) in old age.

If the 9/10 clause is not met, retirees must voluntarily take out statutory or private health insurance.

Both can be expensive.

Keller's experience shows that some employees have miscalculated a lot: "I know about a pensioner who now pays 200 euros in private health insurance instead of 80 in statutory health insurance."

"If people want to return from private to statutory health insurance because of financial bottlenecks, part-time bridge work would certainly be an option that should be considered," emphasizes Daniel Overdiek, head of the legal department of the social association VdK Bayern.

If you want to change, you shouldn't put it on the back burner, advises Unger: "With a 35-year-old it all makes sense, up to the early 40s too."

Because: From the age of 55, the Social Security Code - with a few exceptions - no longer recognizes mercy.

Even if someone then lowers their income, becomes a low-wage earner or slips into unemployment, they are not allowed to return to the statutory system.

This article was first published on February 11, 2019.