Short-term internship in UK: Where to be health-insured?

Question

I'm a European (German) citizen who wants to do a short-term (10 weeks) internship in the UK.

The main question remains where I need to be health-insured and where I need to pay for it.

• UK: It would be taken from my pay directly and I would be covered under the NHS. Reasons speaking against that from what I've found: I'm only there for 10 weeks and it is only for residents
• Germany: I would have to pay it on my own and I would be covered with the EHIC.

If the first one applies, would I need to get de-registered in Germany first and register again when I return?

If the second one applies, is it correct that I wouldn't be able to stay insured through my parents? I'm currently covered though family insurance, but I get paid about 6000 EUR for the whole internship and I would probably have to get insurance myself (which costs about 15%, ouch. NHS seems cheaper).

Answer 1

For the German system, most likely you can't stay insured there as on the one hand you don't fulfill the criteria for the free family insurance and on the other hand don't work in Germany to be able to insure yourself through your employer. Additionally you aren't enrolled in a university which would give you access to student health care.

The health funds have a bit a leeway, so my suggestion would be to send them a letter with all information you have (contract and the explicit mention of the income and the fact that the internship is limited to ten weeks). They will give a binding ruling whether you have to leave the German system for those weeks.

Note that you don't need to pay based on your UK income. Either you stay insured for free through your parents (unlikely) or you can't be insured at all.

I don't know the NHS well, but as far as I know you can only be covered through them if you plan to live there permanently. I don't know if ten weeks are enough to establish permanent residency but I doubt that. This page also suggests that. You can contact the NHS whether you are considered as one.

As far as I understand you don't need to pay National Insurance contributions in the UK in that case.

Having established that you most likely aren't insured through either the German or UK system how do you get coverage? There are some German private insurance companies that insure such cases, the rates are pretty low (maybe 50€ a month). Search for "Auslandskrankenversicherung" and read the terms and conditions closely whether they cover your case.