Even if minors owe contributions to the health insurance company, searching the children’s room violates the fundamental right to the inviolability of the home.
afp | A health insurance company is not allowed to search the room of a young person who owes them contributions. That would be inappropriate, as the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) explained in a decision published in Karlsruhe on Tuesday. When it comes to invasions of privacy, the greater vulnerability of minors must be taken into account. (Af. VII ZB 13/25)
In this case, the young person owed around 9,500 euros to the statutory health insurance fund because contributions had not been paid. The fund applied to the district court in Gotha, Thuringia, for a search warrant for its enforcement officer. She stated that she had to go to her parents’ apartment or the children’s room.
The district court rejected the application, the Erfurt regional court confirmed this. Now the health insurance company was unsuccessful before the BGH.
Children’s room as the only individual living space
Minors are usually insured free of charge in statutory health insurance through their parents. But there are exceptions. For example, if the main earner has private insurance and exceeds the salary limit, the child can also be legally insured, but then has to Pay contributions.
A free one Family insurance is not possible if the child has an income of more than 565 euros per month. Even after a divorce, problems can arise in certain constellations.
In the case now before the BGH, the first claims arose in 2011 and 2013, when the debtor was still a small child. The regional court suspected that unreliable guardians were to blame and not the girl herself.
Therefore, the interference with the inviolability of the apartment is even less justified, especially since the children’s room is their only individual living space. The interest of the health insurance company As a creditor, the regional court rated the case as less serious. The BGH examined the decision and found no legal errors.
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