๐ฉ๐ช Munich ยท Healthcare
Doctors, insurance and emergencies in Munich
Compulsory insurance, a dense network of practices, and a system where you choose your own specialists but wait months for the popular ones.
The thing people get wrongGermany does not assign you a doctor. You pick your own Hausarzt and can go straight to most specialists, but Munich practices routinely close their books, so registering with a Hausarzt while you are well is the difference between an appointment next week and a phone call to 116117.
Indicative figures
- Emergency number112
- Out-of-hours doctor116117Non-emergency medical on-call service.
- Statutory contribution~17 โ 18% of gross14.6% plus the fund's supplement, split with the employer. Charged up to โฌ5,812.50 a month in 2026.
- Prescription co-paymentโฌ5 โ โฌ10 per itemStatutory patients; exemptions apply.
Checked . Ranges, not quotes โ your Insider confirms the current numbers in Munich before you commit to anything.
Statutory and private cover
Everyone resident in Germany must hold health insurance. Employees below the income threshold of โฌ77,400 a year in 2026 are in the gesetzliche Krankenversicherung, contributing 14.6% of gross salary plus their fund's supplement (2.9% on average in 2026), split with the employer and charged up to โฌ5,812.50 a month, with spouses and children covered at no extra cost. Above that threshold, and for the self-employed, private cover becomes available and is priced on age and health rather than income. Private patients get faster appointments; statutory patients get the same hospitals.
- Statutory funds issue an elektronische Gesundheitskarte โ carry it to every appointment.
- Statutory cover includes dependants without additional premium; private cover charges per person.
- Zusatzversicherung top-ups for dental, glasses and private hospital rooms are common and cheap.
Finding a doctor
You choose a Hausarzt freely, and in Munich the practical constraint is capacity: many practices near the centre are not accepting new patients, especially private-only or full ones. Specialists can usually be seen without a referral, though a Hausarzt referral shortens the wait. Waiting times for Facharzt appointments are the main complaint, and private patients are visibly seen faster.
- The KVB service and 116117 can help find a practice with capacity and book urgent appointments.
- English-speaking practices exist across Schwabing, Bogenhausen and the centre, and are in demand.
- Ask at registration whether the practice takes gesetzlich insured patients.
Pharmacies, prescriptions and costs
Apotheken are marked with a red A, medicines are dispensed only there rather than in supermarkets, and prescriptions are increasingly electronic through the insurance card. Statutory patients pay a small per-item co-payment. Each district operates a Notdienst rota so a pharmacy is open overnight, posted in the windows of the closed ones.
Emergencies and out-of-hours
112 reaches the ambulance and fire service. For anything urgent but not life-threatening outside surgery hours, 116117 is the national medical on-call number and will direct you to a Bereitschaftsdienst practice. Hospital Notaufnahme triage means a minor complaint waits a long time, so the on-call service is usually the faster route.