got the bratwurst from the back of the grill
got the bratwurst from the back of the grill
283 comments
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Just to avoid any false impressions: healthcare is not free in Germany. You should always get travel health insurance. Having said that, it's pretty affordable. I pay about €80 a year for me and my wife for worldwide coverage.
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Same in Ireland but a trip to the emergency room (including ambulance if you need it) sets you back €100 euro which is about $110 USD.
2nd last time I was in one there was an American couple across from us whose daughter had gone into a seizure in their hotel. We ended up chatting a good bit and I honestly was very glad for them that they weren't paying American pricing.
Last time I was in one we had a referral from our doctor so it was free (there's a filtering process to stop people with a cold coming to emergency) Included an MRI for my daughter and we've a follow up coming. Again all free.
So when you say it's not free, it's strictly true but holy moly the difference in potentially life destroying cost and not having to weigh that up. It saves lives.
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In Germany you would need to pay a copay for the ambulance between 5-10€, the emergency room would be fully covered. Only if you get admitted you would be charged a copay of 10€/day up to 30 days a year. For prescription medications there is also a copay between 5-10€ for each of them.
All Co-Pays are capped at 2% of your yearly income, or 1% if you suffer from chronic diseases
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My son was in the hospital for 4 days and the charge was $20,000.
The ER visit before admitting was a separate $2,000 charge.We have insurance, so we only had to pay around $8,000 out of pocket. It would have been less, but some of the people in the hospital didn't take our insurance, and our insurance also said that some procedures were overpriced so they only paid the amount they thought was fair.
We didn't get to pick any of the people who provided care, and we were not presented with the ability to negotiate on prices to make sure our insurance wasn't being taken advantage of while they were doing respiratory therapy on our baby.
Our entire system needs to be torn the fuck down and be replaced with something entirely free. I don't even give a fuck about people abusing the system at this point. Fuck it, let it cover elective cosmetic surgery. Never say no to anyone unless the doctor says it first.
My taxes will go up, but I can fucking promise they won't go up by as much as I'd be saving in premium.
Because of right, I pay hundreds of dollars a month for the insurance that then only pays once I get fucked hard enough, and then still doesn't pay for all of it.
Fuck the entire industry, fire them all and seize their assets.And I'm well off compared to a lot of people.
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Better yet, have Mario pay them a visit. They have more than earned it! 👹
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Our entire system needs to be torn the fuck down and be replaced with something entirely free. I don’t even give a fuck about people abusing the system at this point.
Make a lemmy community and make people subscribe who want change.
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The American system for me.
Halfway through the year cost so far:
Relatively inexpensive union insurance for the family $2310. Out of pocket expenses so far $3,700. Total $6010 so far..
Estimated total by the end of the year - $2310 in insurance premiums, 3,000 out of pocket.
Yearly estimated total $11,320.
2 years ago we had the corporate America special. Premium was $16,200, out of pocket was 8,000. $24,200 was the total cost. It was 26.8% of my gross income that year.
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Well 2310$ per year isn't that much.
In Germany the statutory Health insurance is 14,6% of your salary, capped at a maximum of 942€/month (half paid by you, half paid by your employer ), this also covers your children and your wife if she's not working.
But on the other hand, there won't be any significant out of pocket expenses here
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Tourists pay for healthcare in Britain, and pay a charge as part of the visa costs, as well as expenses if they use it. except for emergency care, which is always free for everyone.
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I pay $250 in copay if I drive too close to a hospital in the US.
But after $5,500 out of pocket, the insurance will start paying.
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It's literally robbery. They're legal thieves. They collect until you're dead, and they sure as hell aren't lifting a finger to keep you alive.
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United Healthcare got caught forging DNRs. So they will definitely lift a finger, to kill you!
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That's literal, actual murder. No hyperbole.
Faking documentation to make people die
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"When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty."
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That's basically free to Americans. We pay that per visit if we are lucky. Health insurance here exists to make a profit, not to help people out when they need it.
More death = More profit
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It's only the charge for the extra travel insurance. The actual health care itself costs a lot more and depends on your income. Don't think it's just 80€ a month. I wish it were
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Correct. That's just travel insurance. Regular health insurance is calculated as a percentage of your salary and it's anything but cheap. A lot better than in the US, though.
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I pay $80 twice a week for coverage for my wife and myself in only a very limited fraction of US facilities.
To be clear, that's 100× as much money for far less coverage.
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Same in the Netherlands. If you are uninsured and not an EU citizen an ambulance can cost you €400 to €700. And even if you have European health insurance you still need to pay the €380 deductible if you need to visit the hospital. And if you are not an EU citizen but have travel insurance you probably need to pay the hospital bill upfront.
The Netherlands has a privatized health insurance system. So yeah don’t expect free healthcare if you visit.
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Where do you get travel health insurance from?
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From commercial providers. It's not necessary for EU Citizens travelling inside the EU/EEA as they are treated like people in the national systems for emergencies.
But it simplifies a lot because you can go to any doctor and sometimes they play dumb and pretend they don't know about the rules and want to force you to pay out of pocket (Happened to me in Austria, I've just reported them to the Austrian Health Insurance, he wanted 200€ which is outrageous overpriced and was a contracted doctor of ÖGK). Especially in Eastern Europe. But that applies only to GPs, Hospitals usually play by the rules.
And it's also useful for travelling outside of the EU
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Especially in Eastern Europe.
In post-Soviet countries, it was sadly normal that doctors would demand bribes on top of state insurance. The most outrageous shit I heard was and ob/gyn charging a months salary for a birth, half a month if it turned out to be a girl.
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Not necessary but some countries have a deductible. Like in the Netherlands hospitals will charge you up to €380 and only claim the costs above that amount from your insurer. So cheaper to get travel insurance.
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If that's all you're worried about then paying a insurance 20-80€ a year to insure a risk of 380€ would be a pretty stupid idea, and on average certainly not cheaper
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You don't have to pay every year if you are not going on holiday every year. Also not everything will be covered by your normal health insurance, like if you need to get air lifted back home.
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Thanks. I should have been more specific on my question, thats on me. Like, would I get it through my current health insurance in the US, like an addon to my plan? Or would I get it through a provider in the country/EU where I would travel too?
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Squaremouth (weird name) is like a kayak.com site for travel insurance. Just put in your details and it'll give you a big list to pick from based on price, coverage, etc.
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I don't know much about the US health plans, you might check if they have some special offers, or if they are valid worldwide. I've bought mine through Allianz, a big German insurance company.
They seem to offer travel insurance in the US too. But it's much more expensive and they have pretty low coverage limits in the US. (Here I pay 30€ a year and don't have any coverage limits for medical costs, there I was quoted 400$ a year for much shittier coverage). But you can compare yourself
https://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/
https://www.allianz.de/gesundheit/reisekrankenversicherung/rechner/#/angebot
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283 comments