BU is the most important voluntary insurance after personal liability: it protects the one asset that pays for everything else — your ability to work. Recent arrivals often have no state entitlement at all yet: that requires 5 years of contributions.
BU: Why You Need It and How Much
The state disability pension pays little and only if you cannot do any job. BU insurance pays when you can no longer work in your own profession.
✓ Verified: 18/07/2026
WHAT TO DO
› Details and tips
👨🏻💻
Max recommends:
I insured 2000 € of monthly benefit at 28 for 42 € a month. For a developer that is two lunches, and it protects the one asset that feeds me: my head and hands.
👩🏼💼
Lea recommends:
Mental health is the number one cause, about a third of cases. That is why cheap accident insurance is no substitute: it pays only physical injuries, while burnout and depression are not covered.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The state pays a disability pension, no? ▾
Little, and only for inability to do ANY work over 3 hours a day. BU pays already at 50 percent incapacity in YOUR profession — different universes.
I am 25 and healthy — why pay now? ▾
Exactly why it is cheap: age and health set the price. A contract at 25 costs a third of one at 40, and new diagnoses no longer raise it. Waiting means overpaying or being refused.
Civil servant or self-employed — do I need BU too? ▾
Yes, often even more: the self-employed have no state safety net at all, so BU is essential for them. Civil servants need a Dienstunfähigkeit clause, as their coverage has gaps in the first years of service.
Is mental health covered? ▾
Yes — and that is the point: mental illness causes about a third of all BU cases, the number one reason. That is why accident insurance is no substitute.