Ottonova Review: The Most Expat-Friendly Insurance In Germany

When I needed health insurance for my German freelance visa, I chose Ottonova. Here’s why.

My first two years in Germany as a freelancer, I got away with a great deal. I was paying €137/month for an expat travel insurance called Mawista, which was both super cheap and accepted by the visa office.

But then the gravy train came to an end. When I went in for a visa extension with the same Mawista contract, they refused to accept it for a second round.

Why? Well, if you’re renewing your visa, they no longer consider you a “short-term” resident. (Based on this Reddit thread though, I think the visa office has generally soured on Mawista, even for first time visa applicants.)

The visa officer sent me away, telling me to come back with either public or government-approved private insurance.

Shortly after I started down the internet rabbit hole, a company called Ottonova began blasting me with Facebook ads.

I had never heard of it. No one had ever recommended it. I could not find much info on it. Judging by its marketing campaigns, it seemed really…extra.

But I was like, fuck it. It can’t be worse than American insurance. Plus, it looked like it was really geared towards expats.

So now I’ve been there, done that and can report that Ottonova absolutely exceeded my expectations for health insurance.

What is Ottonova?

Ottonova is a “digital-first” insurance company based in Munich. This means you can get everything done on an app,

Why I loved it

1.) They have English-speaking expat reps

I cannot tell you the immense relief I felt when I got on an initial consultation call with Maggie, a fellow American expat and Ottonova rep.

I really appreciated the fact that Ottonova had brought in expat employees to manage expat customers, because honestly, navigating German bureaucracy (and German customer support) is a hellscape for foreigners.

It made a big difference to have someone on the other end of the line who *gets it.*

Maggie listened to my many concerns, walked me through their process and recommended the right plan for me. From this point on, all I had to do was provide my ID and docs. They took care of everything else.

2.) The coverage is pretty generous

I’ll be honest. I knew that I could probably find slightly cheaper options from other insurance companies, but I didn’t look into them after I started the process with Ottonova.

That’s because my biggest consideration wasn’t price, but my ability to see a doctor quickly and easily when I needed it.

My Ottonova plan covered several things that were very important to me:

• All doctors visits and 80% of any visits to specialists (which meant most of my physiotherapy bills were taken care of)
• Up to €300 worth of contact lenses every two years (nice perk!)
• Coverage for whenever I came back to visit the U.S. (a scary place to not be medically insured)
• Dental care (2x a year cleanings included)
• 100% of all medically necessary medications

To be honest, I think the coverage is comparable to other private insurance on the market. But the real value of Ottonova for me was the fact that they would help me actually get things booked.

3.) They book appointments w/ English speaking doctors for you

While I was covered by Mawista, I almost never went to see doctors because it was such a pain in the ass to find a good one that speaks English and would see you in a reasonable amount of time.

But one of the first things I did on Ottonova was test their Concierge service, which they had claimed would book appointments for me.

I started a chat and asked them to hook me up with an English-speaking gyno, near my office sometime the next week.

It was like having a personal assistant! Within hours, they pinged me with an appointment time and address. Everything was already booked and confirmed.

I showed up at the doctor’s office, showed them my Ottonova card and everything went smoothly.

4.) Claims & reimbursement was lightning fast

Ottonova’s whole thing is that they’re “digitized”, so my only job was to take a picture of my claims and upload it to their app. I got reimbursed within days. I didn’t really have issues with this.

Again, I can only compare this to Mawista, where I would email them my claims and receive my money back a few weeks later.

With Ottonova, this was done so quickly, something i didn’t have to follow up on and didn’t take up any of my brainspace. It was great.

5.) They remind you of health checkups

Finally, this is just a small detail in their app, but one I appreciated. They remind you of what appointments you’re entitled to.

As an American, I’m so used to health insurance companies being evil and not wanting you to actually receive medical care that I found this kind of touching. Lol.

Ottonova’s best customer experience you’ll ever have in Germany

Customer service is not a thing in Germany. Maybe this is why I was so impressed with Ottonova.

I could tell throughout my experience that their team had really invested in making health insurance not just easy, but also delightful for their clueless American customer.

When I signed up, my Ottonova rep told me I would receive a free gift when I sign up, and I brushed it off as bullshit. But they sent me a €100 Adidas gift certificate and a heart rate monitor. 😍

I mean, that was not necessary at all, but it was a nice touch. That VIP feeling never ended. When I had a technical issue that kept me from logging into my app, Ottonova’s product team actually went in and prioritized the issue so I could get back in.

They were always courteous, helpful and went out of their way to make things easy for me. As an expat, Ottonova was a really good experience for me. I can’t recommend it highly enough!

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(Full disclosure: This article does contain an affiliate link, for which I may earn a small commission.)