Travel expenses

This is how we support you with travel to medically necessary treatments

Traveling to the hospital or doctor’s office can sometimes be difficult or impossible to manage independently. We are also there for you in such cases: we cover the costs of your trips to medically necessary treatments at the nearest suitable treatment facility.

Ein Arzt füllt ein Dokument mit seinem Patienten aus.

Travel expenses – your benefits

Most trips can be taken directly without prior approval.

If the requirements for reimbursement are met for all other trips, you will receive your approval quickly and will not need to pay in advance.

You can easily submit your travel expense claim in Meine SBK and upload your invoices after your trips.

Your personal SBK consultant will be happy to answer any questions you may have about travel expenses.

In these cases we will cover travel expenses

We cover the costs of transportation to medically necessary treatments at the nearest possible treatment facility. You will be reimbursed for the following:

Emergency transport to the hospital

Patient transport by ambulance

Journeys to inpatient and partial inpatient hospital treatments as well as deliveries (childbirth)

Journeys to outpatient surgeries that replace an inpatient hospital stay

Journeys to treatments taking place within 5 days before or 14 days after a hospital stay or an outpatient surgery that replaces an inpatient stay

Important to know:

By law, insured persons must contribute to the cost of transportation through a statutory co-payment. Therefore, we cover the transportation costs minus the legally required co-payment.

Reimbursement is based on travel to the nearest appropriate treatment facility from your home or current location.
If you choose a treatment facility that is farther away, you may have to cover the additional costs yourself.

Special regulations for transportation to outpatient treatments:

Transportation to outpatient treatments can only be covered by statutory health insurance under certain conditions. The legal requirements for this are very strict.
You will be reimbursed if you:

have a severely disabled person’s pass with the mark aG (exceptionally disabled in mobility), Bl (blind), or H (helpless), or

have a care level (Pflegegrad) of 4 or 5, or care level 3 with a permanent mobility impairment, or

suffer from a serious illness that requires regular transportation, such as dialysis, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy.

Depending on medical necessity and your health condition, your doctor’s office will prescribe an appropriate and cost-effective means of transport. The following transport options are possible:

Public transport: We cover the cost of second-class tickets. Please take advantage of any available discounts, such as saver fares, the Deutschlandticket, or weekly or monthly passes, if these are cheaper than single tickets. To receive reimbursement, please keep your original tickets. After your trips, send them to us together with your appointment confirmation or doctor’s prescription.

Taxi, disabled transport, and patient transport (rental cars): In this context, rental cars refer to vehicles that are rented together with a driver (in accordance with §§ 47, 49 of the German Passenger Transport Act). This includes vehicles equipped for people with disabilities, for example, for wheelchair users or stretcher transports. After your trip, you will receive a receipt. Please upload this together with your doctor’s prescription in your Meine SBK online account so that we can reimburse part of the costs. Alternatively, you can send the doctor’s prescription to us by post. You may also choose to have your trip approved by us in advance. The advantage: most transport services can then bill us directly using our approval letter. In that case, you do not need to pay upfront — you only pay the statutory co-payment.

Ambulance and emergency transport: We will settle the invoice directly with your transport provider.

Private car: You can also use your own car or arrange transport privately with family or friends. In this case, you will receive € 0.20 per kilometer, up to the amount corresponding to the cost of public transport or another doctor-prescribed mode of transport. After completing your trips, please submit your application indicating the total kilometers driven.

Important note: For all trips, a valid entitlement to reimbursement must exist.
You can check under the section “Frequently Asked Questions” whether you are entitled to reimbursement. Alternatively, your personal SBK consultant will be happy to advise you.

The legislation stipulates that insured persons must contribute to the costs of travel reimbursement by means of a co-payment. The co-payment amounts to 10% of the costs, with a minimum of €5 and a maximum of €10 per trip. Return trips are considered separately. The co-payment is independent of the age of the insured person and is therefore also payable for children.

You pay the co-payment directly to the transport service after the trip. If you travel in your own car or by public transport, we will take the co-payment into account when reimbursing you.

Exceptions to the co-payment:

For certain series of treatments, such as oncological chemotherapy or radiotherapy, co-payments are only payable for the first and last trip.

You do not have to pay any co-payments for trips to medical rehabilitation.

Under certain conditions, you can be exempted from all statutory co-payments. You can find more information on this on the Co-payment exemption page.

How to obtain travel expenses:

1. Doctor’s prescription: Your doctor’s office will issue a prescription for the reimbursement of travel costs. This prescription includes all medically necessary details for the trip, such as the mode of transport or the need for an accompanying person.

2. Submit application online: Send us your prescription via Meine SBK. This way, your application reaches us immediately, saving you time and postage.
Alternatively, you can send your documents by post. Here you can find our address and a prepaid envelope. We will inform you whether and to what extent we will cover your travel costs. With Online Mail in Meine SBK, you will receive feedback within a few days.

Submit application

3. Invoice reimbursement: After your trip, simply upload the invoice and any additional documents to Meine SBK.
Alternatively, you can send your documents by post. Within a few days, the reimbursement will be transferred directly to your account.

Submit invoices

Greater security through personal advice

Do you have questions about travel costs or would you like to know whether we can contribute to your travel expenses? Your personal SBK consultant will be happy to provide you with advice and assistance. You can find their contact details in your Meine SBK app or in our SBK Consultant search.

In an emergency, speed is essential. Often, it is not possible to ask the patient or a relative about their health insurance details. Since the ambulance service cannot bill us directly without this information, you will receive a private invoice in such cases. Please submit the invoice to us via Meine SBK. Alternatively, you can send the invoice by post.

Travel costs for outpatient treatments can only be covered by statutory health insurance under certain conditions. The law sets a narrow framework for this. You will receive reimbursement if you:

Have a severe disability ID with the code aG (exceptionally mobility-impaired), BI (blind), or H (in need of assistance), or

Have care level 4, 5, or care level 3 with a permanent mobility limitation, or

Have a serious illness that requires regular trips, such as dialysis, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy.

Travel costs for outpatient surgeries can only be covered by statutory health insurance under certain conditions. These conditions are met if the outpatient surgery avoids or shortens an inpatient hospital stay. This usually means that the surgery would normally require a multi-day hospital stay.

Sometimes, an accompanying person is required for the trip for medical reasons or for children. If your doctor confirms the need for an accompanying person on the prescription, we will also cover the additional travel costs for the companion.

The travel costs we can cover for spa or rehabilitation treatments depend on the type of treatment (inpatient or outpatient preventive or rehabilitative measures). Some facilities offer a pick-up service that collects you directly from home or the hospital and takes you to the treatment. The approval letter for your treatment will provide all relevant travel information. For questions, please contact your personal SBK consultant. Contact details can be found here.

If you require medically necessary repatriation from abroad due to illness or an accident, we are unable to cover these costs. We therefore recommend arranging additional travel health insurance before your trip.