ottonova Reviews 805

Applied to Ottonova and received „unverbindliches Angebpt“. Then call from friendly service rep to answer questions. So far so good. Next I get a call from this female who says she wants to confirm my medical status. I have ZERO medical conditions, have had no surgeries, not on any meds, etc.
THEN she asks about where I pay my taxes. Wait. Is this not a medical check? No they need to know. So I tell her in Germany although I have a second home in the U.K. She goes a bit weird on me and starts insinuating they needed to review my application adm would let me know. I smell a rat and ask her if there was a problem? No real answer. Never hear back until I email them a few days later to be told they could not offer me cover. No explanation. Not returning my calls. Wow. Great service. Really fostering trust here. Not.
To summarise: Given the other poor reviews combined with my experience during sign up I could not recommend Ottonova at all.

Ottonova refuses to insure people taking PrEP, a preventative treatment to avoid catching HIV. So they are in effect punishing people for taking measures to stay in good health.

They will reimburse you placebo treatments like homeopathy, but active preventative measures like PrEP are a no-go. Apparently they would rather have customers not protecting themselves and catching a life-altering condition.

The fact that they would rather spend money to subsidize blog posts to advertise them than on preventative care for their customers speaks volume about their values.

Edit: incredible how Ottonova's response to my review is filled with misinformation about the safety of PrEP. PrEP is an absolutely safe preventative treatment. This is the scientific consensus, medications used for PrEP have been used for HIV treatment for decades, the only innovation of PrEP is using them for prevention. The fact that a health insurance would say otherwise is extremely worrying.

While I feel that ottonova has good customer service and a responsive team, I cannot give them a good review because of my experience with them and I would caution anyone signing up for insurance with them for a few reasons. 1. if during your physical anything comes up that proves to be a "risk factor" they will give you a very high premium. In my case over 600 euros a month (when initially it was quoted that it would be closer to 200-300 a month) 2. you even if you have later testing done and the "risk factor" is now gone or normal, they will not change your premium amount for 3 YEARS! That amounts to paying thousands of euros for something that is not an issue at all and that you don't need treatment for. 3. you are locked into a contract with them for 2 years unless you move out of the country. I am a healthy young person, and while I was initially happy the found a potential health risk/issue, I am now very upset that it turned out to be nothing, and I am stuck paying so much money each month for 3 years. I would recommend if you start the process with them and they offer you a very high premium, to get a second opinion with another insurance provider or get a test by an outside doctor to see if it is really an issue or just a way for them to get more money from you.

I was very dissapointed. I felt like I was lured by the modern and informal approach only to be dissapointed with a discriminating, outdated, unprofessional, and dehumanising experience when doing the « medical check review ». They asked me if I had any kind of psychological or psychosomatic treatment in the past 10 years and I admitted to having had a few sessions with a therapist due to a hard time in my life a few years ago. Immediately they stopped and said they cannot ensure me. I asked why and they kept repeating « we cannot cover that » as if I am an object, not a human being. What kind of business, today in 2021 descriminates againts people doing therapy as a prevention and to deal with life stress? When anxiety, depression which comes when this is not done in time is a full epidemic nowadays?!! Pure stupidity and honestly left me with a very bad idea of the company.

Note after Ottonova’s reply: another copy-paste « response », clearly without even having read the complaint and the answer not addressing any of the questions raised. No comments…

Steer clear if you have pre-existing conditions.

I contacted Ottonova after reading several online articles that stated it was one of the top health insurance companies for expats in Germany. I then had a screening phone call where I let them know all about my health. This was done very professionally and I was excited about selecting them as my provider.

I'm in my early 30s and healthy - the only medication I need is my asthma inhaler. I have very mild asthma that I've had for many years now. I've never once been to the hospital for it, I just take my inhaler every day and it's fully under control.

Other than that I have lactose intolerance (which affects around 65% of the population) and endometriosis (which affects 1 in 10 women). For me, both are very mild conditions that I take no medication for.

After the phone call, Ottonova sent a nurse over to give me a health checkup, which involved a blood test where the nurse couldn't find my vein so poked at me several times. It was frustrating but I thought it was worth it, as the next step would be getting insurance.

Today, I received an email saying my insurance application had been rejected. No explanation, no higher fee adjustment. Just rejected.

I find this very frustrating as:

1. I would consider myself healthy enough to be insured, even at a higher premium. I'll typically only visit the doctor for asthma checkups twice a year. What happens to people who have had more serious issues, if I'm not healthy enough to be insured at my age?

2. I wish I had been told there was such a high risk of being rejected during my phone screening, rather than wasting my time getting a health checkup and blood test first.

I've contacted Ottonova to ask whether there was more of an explanation as to why I'd been rejected. I've only been told that the combination of asthma, endometriosis and lactose intolerance meant I couldn't be insured - and that they didn't have any further details.

The only conclusion I can come to is that if you have any pre-existing conditions it's best not to waste your time getting in touch with Ottonova.

I contacted Ottonova to inquire about signing up for their health insurance. However, with an ADD diagnosis they rejected me immediately. In Germany, an attention deficit is apparently considered a severe mental illness which disqualifies you. As an expat moving to Germany, health insurance is mandatory, but if you have any kind of 'mental health' diagnosis you're being discriminated against and can't obtain a health insurance.

The one star is for the support agent that said that it was completely unfair, but unfortunately that was their rules.

Discriminating, outdated, unprofessional, and dehumanising. The German system is so broken!

Sadly I wasn't accepted. I do like the overall attempt to create a modern and digital health insurance...

Best health insurance in Germany. Period!
Whether it's the concierge service where your Doc's appointments are booked for your at a doctor of your choice or prompt and hassle free online claims processing, everything is app based for maximum convenience at the most competitive premiums in the market. The app is incredibly easy to use making for a joyful user experience. Happy to recommend it 100% without any reservations whatsoever.

Thanks and keep it up!
John

Before I signed the contract, I was asked to do a medical test. After that, I sent them an email inquiring about the next step. I did this because I wanted to know if it is possible to get a medical result, finalize the contract and send it to my current public insurance company prior to the original agreed contact start date. Then I was told the following:

“in order to be able to send you the results of the exam before the start of the insurance, we would have to charge for the cost of the exam, which is around 200 - 300 euro. Let us know if you wish this. Otherwise, the results will be uploaded around 1 - 2 weeks after your contract has started and we have charged the first insurance premium to your bank account.”

I was confused about the statements and got nervous all in a sudden. After a few minutes, one of the staff from ottonova called and explained me that there were some misunderstandings between me and his colleague. In any case, he had just finalised the offer of my insurance. I had to confirm it via their app.

However, when I went through the medical result page, there was a surcharge but without any detailed explanation. For example, there were 3 items underneath the surcharge figure. One related to my previous operation; the second one was called “Value for triglycerides increased” and the last one was “eyeglasses”. As told by the staff, I could neither know the proportion of each item to the total amount of surcharge, nor could I view any detailed information about the medical report before signing the contract.

My impression was that the expression was so inaccurate that it could not be stated as an “increase” since they did not know even the value of my triglycerides before. Even if it should mean that the value is higher than normal, I still doubt it because I basically have a very healthy daily diet!! Given that the staff stressed that even with the surcharge, the price is still lower than my current public insurance company, I ended up signing the contract via the app. But I still feel very uncomfortable about this. How can they ask someone to sign a contract at a higher price without providing more detailed information or a better explanation about the surcharge?

After evaluation between this health insurers and other companies and after personal experiences of friends of mine. I assure you you will not be getting what you pay for. The dental package borders the base package with Hallesche which is substantially cheaper (I'm not recommending anything here do your due diligence). However, don't fall for the 100% coverage and so on they boast. Again, given the recent experience of friends of mine to boast this, is a scam.

I spent 2 months trying to get insured with Ottonova and we are still nowhere.

After the initial medical checkup I received a call from a doctor saying that based on the express test they performed, I _might_ have a serious disease and advising that I visited a clinic to take a proper test and clarify the matter. Ottonova also got in touch and asked to provide them with "results of a control test in 8 weeks".

So I went to a clinic, paid for proper medical examination, got the papers saying that I don't have anything of what the original express test was suggesting - to my relief.

But trying to deliver those results to Ottonova and resume the process, I've been hitting brick wall over and over. At first, they were repeating the same formula of "control test after 8 weeks". After I explained my situation at length in the customer support chat, I was promised to be contacted "soon". After two weeks of waiting I tried to reach them again and was told that someone will call me "by the end of November". To put this into perspective, I submitted my initial application mid September - over 2 months ago.

It doesn't seem that Ottonova has any interest in working with clients whose situation diverges from their "standard workflow" in the slightest. It's also made worse by the fact that you don't have a dedicated sales person who would be in charge of your case and who you could contact for related questions - instead you are limited to the generic helpline and talk to a different person every time you get in touch.

Suppose I'm done with Ottonova. I'm having a call with an insurance broker tomorrow to try and find another provider.

Ottonova has got a great support system especially with the chat tool where one can get instant response to one's queries. The colleagues are really patient and polite while solving your doubts and they see to it that you get satisfactory answers.

I took away one star because it would be good to get notified, if something is deviating from the contract terms. It is regarding the replacement of brush heads (in top-up dental insurance), the program for which was discontinued but there was no information/notification about it which was a bummer.

Really glad about the service they provide. Really helpful and proactive agents. Especially Marco. Totally recommended insurance.

their slogan says "reduced to the best", and after i have described some of my health issues and got rejected even without a chat to get a quote (but kindly offered me supplementary dental insurance, thank you, not exactly what i need), i fully understood the meaning of it. the insurance company only deals with simple and healthy clients.

oh well... very lame, ottonova, on the outside you look much more promising.

Nice chat tool. Very helpful English speaking interlocutors!

Ottonova is amazing, with a premium customer service with 24h chat. If you do not know German, it's the best health insurance up there. The app also has a really friendly user interface, easier to use!

Ottonova is very new to this business (they acknowledge this themselves) and it really shows up in interactions.

In my initial conversations with them, I was very surprised to see that their so called "medical specialist" was not aware of basic maladies, had trouble understanding English - despite being billed as an English speaking service for expats - and asked juvenile questions that anyone with very basic medical background should already know (like being an engineer and asking customers to explain gravity to you). 2 stars because of the friendly initial conversation, everything to follow was pretty abysmal.

I would not trust my health in the hands of such amateurs. I did not follow up with them after that call (neither did they), and I chose to go with a more established private insurance provider. Would recommend you do the same.

I got in contact with Serkan Sahanoglu for the entire process. He was in general really helpful.

crap! the conditions are definitely not comparable to other insurance companies in Germany. Ottonova pretends to be open minded for expats but does not offer insurance conditions in english...if you talk to germans and german „maklers“ everybody will tell you its a crap startup in a very hard market - you are stuck and cant get out!

Isabel has made the whole onboarding so so easy for me. She is super professional, knowledgeable on all of the important (and scary) health insurance topics and generally just a cheerful happy person.

I am super super happy with the process thus far. I have my consultation with the health underwriter next week and I am 95% certain that I will go ahead and switch from TK to Ottonova!