On 10 March 2017 the German Financial Services Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin) published a guidance note on setting up health insurance companies in Germany under the new provisions implementing Solvency II. In contrast to most other EU member states, German regulated private health insurers are not permitted to offer products of any other line of life or non-life business. What makes these guidelines even more relevant is the fact that – except for certain expatriates, foreign students and travellers – it is almost impossible for non-German insurers to offer regular health insurance products in Germany, even when making use of the EU/EEA freedom of services. The reason is that private health insurance regulatory provisions are tightly aligned with mandatory provisions in non-harmonised areas such as social security, tax and employment law. If benefits are partially or entirely paid for the same risks which are covered by healthcare social security legislation, insurance products normally qualify as “substitutive” health insurance. This means that insurers must for example keep premium contributions stable even for older policyholders, and must grant the right to change into another tariff without a new health test. Where these requirements are not satisfied, various tax and social security benefits are not available. In particular, employers are neither required nor entitled to make tax deductions for their share in premium contributions, and the policyholder may not be entitled to opt out of social security.