BARMER  Reviews 2,693

Avoid at all costs.

People on the phone are unhelpful and unfriendly, prices and coverage are a joke, literally not a single redeeming factor.

My experience with Barmer was depressed. I came to Germany as an international student and just because they sent me the confirmation very late so I could not get my UniCard on time, hence, I could not go to the mensa and it was so stressful. All communications took forever. I thought when I left Germany to come back to my home country, all sufferings were over but even I did exactly what the support team advised (I carefully called them twice to ask what should I do to cancel my health insurance before leaving Germany), but Barmer still charged me for the next month. I was so stressful to contact the support team as advised by email(s) but nobody answered for days. I feel so sorry but please if you can, do not use Barmer services.

Update: Barmer has responded my request and the problem was solved.

I chose Barmer as the health insurer when relocating to Germany. Altough they gave me a document and written validation that my wife would be registered as dependent via me, they did not register her and did not sent her health card. They insist on NOT responding to any of my emails either.

Prefer any other provider then them.

My short experience with Barmer was extremely frustrating. I only worked in Germany for two months before moving back abroad, and during that time they showed a surprising level of incompetence. They repeatedly wrote my date of birth incorrectly, despite being given the correct details, and sent important letters to my employer’s address instead of my home address — even though I had clearly communicated this.
If I had stayed longer in Germany, I would not have trusted Barmer with my health insurance. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend them.

I have had the worst experience with Barmer so far. Everything was alright until I changed my bank. I went to barmer personally to change my bank information and they sent me to do it over the app only I was never able to do it in the app because of technical issues. Since then I had been trying to get in contact with them through email and replying to the messages I get on the app but no answer. This has been going on for MONTHS. I have gone another time to the office personally and they made me give the new bank information only to get another notice that it was not registered AGAIN and I had to still pay. 2 days ago I recieved a message from my LANDLORD saying THEY went to HER HOUSE to ask for the MONEY. I cannot believe that they would go to this extreme while NEVER answering to me. I had to explain the whole situation to the landlord I am SO humiliated! I went again today for the third time to the office just to be told that they NEVER recieved my messages and that they had NO register that I was EVER at their office even though I showed the proof that I DID indeed tried reaching and they even QUESTIONED ME ABOUT IT. Tonight I recieved another email that they will discontinue the service if I don't pay (after "sorting it out this morning"). I don't know what else to do. Writing emails does not work going in person does not work. AND I had to deal with all of this while NO ONE was able to speak in English to me and only in German.

They will just keep piling on charges without giving an explanation. They only communicate in German. I have landed up paying for insurance to two different companies because of them.

Barmer ruined my entire life. I don’t say that lightly or to be dramatic. As a self-employed person I earned a little over the limit for family insurance and then had to backpay and entire years worth (2,5k), that affected my ability to pay my current instalment. Now I sit with zero funds every month as a single mom because I am paying 6,7K over 1 year. I have to take loans and cannot feed my child. I barely go to the doctor. My debt gets higher and my Schufa gets worse, all because of 100 euro two years ago.

My experience really bad with Barmer , I am insured with Barmer automatically when I registered in Fintiba and I was not aware that I can not terminate Barmer in 1 year. Barmer and Fintiba both did not inform me about this case. I wrote so many mails but still could not terminate membership. So currently I am not in Germany but have to pay montly contribution.

I went to their offices for an issue I had with them.

The people at Barmer, instead of helping me, lied to their advantage, and I had to resort to lawyers and consumer rights to prevent them from scamming me. Be careful with them.

My daughter has an income of EUR 400 a month, the sum I pay her. We agreed on EUR 240 monthly health insurance. You raised to EUR 1134.00/month, which I refuse to pay. You went now to legal collection of over EUR 7500.00. Barmer keeps on avoiding discussions. Powers of attorney not supplied properly, even provided according to their own emails. Monday morning phone call discussions are ended, because they do not want to deal with this on Monday morning.
They our proud to be dealing in English, all LIMITED communication is in German. Phone calls only in German. The most disgusting bunch on the planet

Shifting to Germany as an expat can feel daunting especially because of so much paperwork. However, Barmer made health insurance feel like a breeze. They patiently answered all of my questions and even helped with specific documents for visa ahead of time. I am very grateful to Frank Regensburger for his wonderful support and patience.

Their english support is very helpful especially when you have limited knowledge of German. Would recommend Barmer to all of my friends.

The worst online platform and website. Rarely works. Terrible navigation.

I have never had a worse insurance company than this one, you are an absolute disgrace!!

This was a very interesting course for me. It was my first time doing a First Aid course, and i am glad that i joined, i had doubts at first since it was online and my German is not that good, i thought It might be difficult to follow, but it was well prepared and organized. It was structured and easy to follow. I have learned the most important and Basics of First Aid. I will most definately do a course in person with them.

Communists! They break the law when I request them to cancel my insurance, just because they think I will pay them while I can't. I can only imagine how many people they have scammed and I feel bad for these people. DO NOT INSURE YOURSELF WITH BARMER. There's no way back! They'll require you to pay if you die too.

I had an urgent thing about my health insurance as an international student in germany however when i called the 'ENGLISH HOTLINE' they hung up on me THREE TIMES. I will pay for the service and I can't even get one.

I stand by my pervious review. They had an opportunity to fix things and instead they doubled-down.

On the advice of my boss, I went to speak with them directly. Absolutely unhelpful, rude, and uninterested in the pain you are enduring.

I will be changing Krankenkassen because if they are so intent on making me jump through hoops I already have gone through in order for them to just DENY needed care once I do, what will happen when I end up with a cancer diagnosis? How many conservative therapies will I have to try before they allow chemo? At what stage will they finally decide to provide treatment? Honestly, they would rather that I become disabled than give me the less expensive treatment now.

I truly believe that if I had better fluency in German or were German, I would not be treated so poorly. I do believe that they have discriminated against me as a foreigner.

If I am to stay in Germany and have any quality of life, I will have to use money from my US retirement funds if I decide to get the recommended surgery. I will also have to travel to Turkey to do it, because here I would never be able to afford it.

As for Barmer, their fees are extortionist, their coverage is abysmal, and I have never been shown so little compassion by a medical insurance company--not even an American one, which is saying something. While I know that German customer service lives up to its reputation as awful, Barmer really takes the cake here. Absolutely atrocious.

If you are an immigrant especially, AVOID Barmer. You will be driven absolutely mad by their poor medical coverage and even worse service. AVOID.

This service has been extremely disappointing. They initially locked me out of re-registering for the new semester. On January 2, 2024, they instructed me to pay 132 euros to rectify the issue promptly, which they failed to do. Upon revisiting the office on January 17, they demanded an additional payment of 176 euros, assuring it would resolve the matter. Despite my requests to verify outstanding payments, they insisted this was the only amount due. Their unprofessionalism extended to refusing an official document and instead providing vague information on a piece of paper. I have even mentioned them that I have only until this week I can re-register to the new semester so I paid the amount on the spot, only to receive an email today instructing me to pay another 126 euros for unblocking. It seems they don't want me to re-register, so they come up with another unnecessary payment. Numerous red flags surfaced earlier, but I attributed them to my error. Their handling of situations is profoundly unfair to customers like me. In a previous incident, they had locked me out for a one-day delayed payment, promising immediate unblocking upon additional payment, which took them three months to fulfil even though there were no outstanding amounts. Once this issue is resolved, I plan to switch health insurance providers immediately. They are the worst in terms of fee transparency, which is only accessible in their offices. Essentially, you must comply with their demands without questioning or risk being locked out of university with severe consequences. I will seek legal action against them regarding this issue if they fail to unblock my account to the university. Not recommended; consider changing your health insurance provider to avoid similar experiences.

Literally WORST experience, i have been using Barmer for over 2 years, and i recently applied for family insurance to cover my wife, i stated that we need to visit doctor on urgent basis, submitted the application online and since then, i have been waiting, trying to call them and even through chat. They hang up the call as soon as someone picks up without saying a word, the person in chat closed the chat without answering me query. This has been an extremely WORST experience. i am 1000% thinking of switching to another insurance and recommend all of my friends, community to do so. Zero professionalism and responsibility.

The bonus program had reduced significantly
BARMER had a very good bonus program. You’d get money for example for not smoking, and having a healthy weight height ratio. Many of the bonus points have been reduced or removed. But the monthly price is still higher than other insurances at least for students. I see that as a scam.