Ottonova Review – What is Good & Bad about it [2024] - Live In Germany

Ottonova is Germany’s first health insurance provider working on digital platform. With the advancement in tech and application systems, everything is being converted to digital platforms. Apart from being convenient, it has highly increased the risks of online fraud. May be, you might also be worried about the credibility of Ottonova. Hence, to clear your doubts and to open the truth, we have compiled an overview of this new health insurance company. After considering both good and bad Ottonova reviews and going through the personal experience of using Ottonova, here is what we can tell you about this digitized insurance platform. 

An Introduction to Ottonova

Before getting to the review part, you should know what Ottonova is, what services they are providing, and how it is different from other existing platforms. 

Ottonova is a newly founded health insurance company. It has its play store app, which is a huge revolution in the German health insurance industry.

Mobile App

Ottonova has digitized the following experiences.

• You can register yourself online. There is no need to visit the insurance provider.
• Ottonova provides customer support through its smartphone app, again saving you a lot of time and effort.
• Another revolutionary move is the introduction of digital visits to the doctor. You do not need to travel all the way to the doctor’s clinic. You can use the app and have an online conversation with your doctor.
• Also, the Ottonova smartphone app has all the information that you might need related to your insurance.

International insurance

Apart from this innovation, Ottonova provides international health insurance. It means that if you are out of Germany and fall ill, you can still avail your health insurance. 

Supplementary Dental Health Insurance

Most insurance providers exclude dental insurance from their services. But Ottonova is providing both general health and dental health insurance under the same banner. 

Other Supplementary Insurance from Ottonova

Ottonova has a number of more services that you can include in your insurance policy. You can have household help or pet care. Apart from that, Ottonova’s hospital stay policy is quite fantastic too. You can avail of either the single bed or double bed option, according to your budget and preferences. 

Honest Ottonova Review

We will not only be telling you our personal experiences, but also the reviews from other users.

Our Personal Experience

Our personal experience with Ottonova has been pretty good. Here are some highlights from the overall journey.

• Starting from the very beginning, the registration process. It was surely a tough spot. The registration requires a lot of information and most of the public cannot comprehend the requirements. However, Ottonova has described each step quite elaborately. Hence, if you pay a little attention, you can understand them easily.
• Another thing that we noticed in Ottonova services is their dual language support. The app is available in both German and English. Hence, it is preferable for immigrants who are not good at speaking or understanding the German language.
• The smartphone app is also user-friendly. There are a few flaws that need to be improved, but the overall experience is satisfactory.

General Customer Concerns

Even before trying Ottonova, people have concerns about the platform which pulls them away from even trying it out. Hence, we have addressed those concerns based on our personal experience and reviews from other users. 

• When doing preliminary research on Ottonova, you will come across a number of good and extremely good reviews about the platform. This might make you think that these are paid recommendations. To be honest, you are right. Ottonova is spending a huge fortune on its online marketing. Hence, many review blogs on Ottonova are paid for by the company. But you should know that these reviews do not contain any false claims. They are just not talking about the drawbacks. But you need not worry about it. We have you covered in that respect.
• Being a newly founded platform, Ottonova is presumed to be a potential prey for bankruptcy. But the company has taken this issue into consideration. Ottonova claims to have kept huge fortunes in offshore companies. This fortune is kept to help customers in case of any emergency. Hence, Ottonova can deal with bankruptcy.
• If you are an immigrant and are supposed to use Ottonova insurance for your residence permit, you should know that Ottonova is supported by German embassies.
• A major issue with private health insurance providers is that their prices skyrocket during your old age. But Ottonova has various options to keep it as down as possible. Note that, though Ottonova services at old age do not increase tremendously like other private health insurances, it is still quite expensive as compared to government health insurance and other private insurances that are known for their incredibly low rates.

In fact, if you are looking for cheap insurance, Ottonova cannot be your perfect choice at all. 

Good Reviews

Now here are a few excellent reviews from actual Ottonova users. In other words, these are the reasons why you should at least give Ottonova a try.

Timely Reimbursement

Source: TrustPilot

This review from Quentin Vercruysse on Trustpilot. Reimbursement is one of the major issues faced by health insurance users. Some insurance providers take too much time to reimburse your payments which makes their services annoying and frustrating. But Ottonova seems to have solved this issue. Getting your reimbursements on time is a huge plus to prefer any health insurance. You will be amazed to know how some insurance providers take months to reimburse your amount.

Responsive Customer Support

Source: TrustPilot

With health insurance, you will always find yourself in a whirlpool of ambiguities and doubts. You will always need someone to guide you through doctor visits, the reimbursement process, and a lot more. Ottonova has taken this issue into consideration and has provided the best customer support system. The helpline is available 24/7 with super responsive and helpful staff. You can either contact them through an in-app chat box or through a voice call. 

Digital Platform

Source: TrustPilot

Being the first insurance provider with a digital platform, Ottonova has focused on its tech part exclusively. You will find their tech services to be super smooth and fast. You won’t face any issues with the payouts or customer support. 

Bad Reviews

We have also included a list of bad reviews about Ottonova. This is done to make sure that you are aware of the problems Ottonova users are facing. But we have also included the customer support response from Ottonova to these bad reviews, just so that we do not convey a one-sided story.

No Dual Language Support

Source: TrustPilot

One of the very basic advertisement points of Ottonova is its dual language support. They claim to provide their services in English as well as in Germany. On this basis and a number of other factors, they claim to be ex-pat friendly. But this user seems to be highly disappointed. Due to the unavailability of the English language, he failed to understand many crucial points, which resulted in the loss of his money and time. 

Source: TrustPilot

But the good thing is that Ottonova responded to the user in no time and asked him to register his complaint through the mail. Now they might use this complaint to improve their dual language support. But whether the customer gets reimbursement of his money or not, still remains a secret. 

No Coverage of Dental Treatment

Source: TrustPilot

Providing dental insurance along with general health insurance is Ottonova’s distinguishing feature. But this user claims to have not been provided the promised benefits. He was told that he needs to wait for 4 years to avail of dental services. If this is true, this surely is pathetic and intolerable. 

Source: TrustPilot

However, here you can see the reply of Ottonova’s customer support. They refuse such claims. But there might be confusion as told by the customer support. Actually, Ottonova applies an insurance limit for the 1st 4 years of the contract. The customer might have already achieved his limit through other health services. That is why he wasn’t able to avail of reimbursement for his dental treatment. 

No Insurance Policy for Mental Health Patients

Source: TrustPilot

In this next review, the user addressed his mental health issue. He is suffering from ADD and Ottonova refused to provide him with health insurance. 

Source: TrustPilot

Ottonova customer support did respond to the review. Though the customer has a very valid point, Ottonova has to follow German rules. It is a common practice in Germany to get a background health check-up on the customer. They need various health tests of the customer to have him under the insurance. 

Insurance Policies for Other Serious Medical Issues

Source: TrustPilot

The customer was suffering from lactose intolerance and asthma. On the grounds of his pre-existing medical conditions, Ottonova rejected his insurance. 

Source: TrustPilot

Ottonova’s customer support tried to provide the user with the most possible explanation. 

Apart from that, if you are suffering from any serious medical condition, be it asthma or HIV, a pilot can help you out with that too. All you need to do is to book their online consultation. You can find it on the trust pilots’ website. However, I am also putting in links for both the trust pilot’s review page and consultation page.

Final Words

After talking, researching, and personally experiencing Ottonova, we have written this review. If you are looking for a start yes or no in Ottonova’s verdict, you might get disappointed. Because the yes or no depends on your personal budget, preferences, and other conditions. Note that Ottonova is quite expensive, not only more than government insurance providers but also higher than many private ones. We can say that it is suitable for high-salaried employees, high-income entrepreneurs, civil servants, and especially ex-pats. With their dual language support, ex-pats and foreigners find it super easy and convenient. But even if you do not belong to any of these categories and can afford Ottonova’s high budget, you should definitely think about giving it a try. You won’t regret it at all.