Most sites that compare health insurance are paid by the insurers they show, either a commission on each contract or a fee for each contact passed on. That decides which offers appear, in what order, and who calls you afterwards. Before typing your phone number, check who pays the site.
What the regulators found
In France, the DGCCRF checked 147 brokers, insurers and mutuelles between 2021 and 2022 and found almost a third breaking the rules, mostly in phone selling. Some brokers told elderly people they were calling from their own mutuelle and presented a new contract as a “simple avenant”. Checks in 2024 found more false claims to be the customer’s mutuelle and promises of “100 % reimbursement”. Telephone canvassing for insurance has had stricter rules since April 2022.
In Germany, Check24 is legally an insurance broker and is paid a commission when someone signs. In a case brought by the federation of consumer centres (vzbv), one of its insurance comparisons had checked only 38 of 89 insurers, all of them paying commission. A consumer centre also made it stop calling its private health insurance tool an “official tariff calculator”, and the Bundeskartellamt has warned that rankings on comparison portals can depend on what providers pay.
In the UK, the Association of Medical Insurers and Intermediaries wrote to the Financial Conduct Authority about sites that copy real health insurance brokers to collect contact details and sell them on to authorised firms.
Where to compare without a sales call
Some comparisons are paid for by readers or by law. In France, the Que Choisir mutuelle comparator takes nothing from insurers and asks only for a profile and a postcode, and people on low incomes can check their right to the Complémentaire santé solidaire first. In Germany, the official list of the GKV-Spitzenverband shows every statutory fund’s rate, and Stiftung Warentest adds extra benefits. In the UK, Which? rates insurers on claims and MoneyHelper explains whether private cover is needed at all.
A broker can still help, especially with a medical history. Ask how they are paid, and in the UK check the firm on the FCA register.
Sources
- Actu-Juridique: Démarchage téléphonique, la DGCCRF signale des abus
- Le Quotidien du pharmacien: Assurances, courtiers, mutuelles, trop de pratiques abusives
- Ihre Vorsorge: Verbraucherzentrale mahnt Check24 ab
- Versicherungsbote: Verbraucherschutz erwirkt Unterlassungserklärung von Check24
- Stiftung Warentest: Bundeskartellamt kritisiert Vergleichsportale
- Cover: AMII appeals to FCA over unauthorised lead websites
- Which?: Best private health insurance 2026