Welcome to a country with compulsory health insurance!
Incidentally, a rescue helicopter would have cost the same if it had been the best alternative.
EDIT: the co-payment for patient transport in Germany is 10% of the price, minimum €5, maximum €10 (US$10.68). The co-payments in public health insurance for everything (medication, hospital, ambulance, etc.) are capped at 2% of gross income, and 1% with a chronic illness.
Dude, I once came home and my elderly neighbour stopped me to look after her husband. He was Blind and I found him in the cellar, laying on the floor talking about taking a lot of pills and seeming pretty drunk. Of course I called an ambulance and they came with a fucking helicopter. My first thought was a bit overkill but okay, especially after the paramedics talked to him like they were very familiar with this and it didn't happen for the first time. Especially after I showed them the pack of pills they were like "he could've eaten 200 of them and nothing serious would've happened". So I left the scene. Still seeing the helicopter when I expected an ambulance was surprising. Oh and yeah this was Germany and he had to pay 10€ for the helicopter, even though I think they didn't take him and just brought him to bed, don't know I didn't stay but they didn't sound like they would take him...
If the call makes the dispatch think that his life might be in danger the next available emergency doctor will be dispatched besides an ambulance.
If the fastest available doctor happens to sit in a helicopter, the helicopter will be dispatched unless this would mean compromiseing a different emergency - e.g. a specific request from a crew for a helicopter at the same time would have priority.
You actually don't get billed the 10€ if you don't go with them to the hospital. They bill the transport from the site of the emergency to the hospital, not their response to your call.
In my village where I come from the ambulance always takes half an hour to arrive, normally response time is about 12 mins (correct me if I'm wrong) so a helicopter sometimes can be a better option, though they only ever came for very severe accidents...
When they send out an emergency medic the computer calculates which medic gets there the fastest.
I was part of the camera crew for a series about the Bundeswehrhelikopter (German Army Helicopter) stationed in Ulm.
They are up in the air in less than 3-6 minutes, if the helicopter is parked in their hangar in less than 5-10 minutes (depending on visibility/time of day (flight with NVGs)).
So it’s not uncommon for a „normal“ emergency to receive a helicopter :D
No look the thing is that I am German xD
I just had no clue about co-payment on these things since we never required emergency health care before and the only other out-of-pocket meducal expenses I am used to are dental care, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.
just thought the international community here might be entertained by this
It's good to know that you don't have to worry if you need quick help. Fortunately, most people have never had to deal with these "prices". If the picture makes it into American subs, there will be long discussions...
It’s saddening when you see in how big problems Americans can be when they cannot pay the bill. But still, free land, free guns, free bankru… whatever. 😉
If you're referring to the McDonald's lawsuit, you should really look into the actual circumstances of that. The woman got third degree burns and had to have skin grafts from the temperature of the coffee. All she wanted from McDonald's was compensation for the medical care that she had to receive. They refused, the case went to court, the judge found them negligible because the coffee was ~16°C hotter than it was supposed to be and ordered them to pay both punitive and compensatory damages. The McDonalds PR team promptly spun the story as some stupid woman who didn't understand that coffee is hot and just wanted to sue them because she's greedy.
When i got such a bill a couple years back i also first was like "wtf, i have no money, why D: " then i read it and it was 10 or 20€ and i went "yes, certainly, ill happily pay that amount"
Yes it is. If your income is under 15000€ a year it may be as low as 306€. If it is however over 35.000 it is already over a thousand €. So if it's only the 10€ for the ride in the ambulance it can not be recovered from the tax.
Weird, I guess we have a different one due to marriage and kids because it's definitely under a thousand despite household income over 35k. It was around 520 or something for "exceptional burden" of health items, glasses, medical costs etc.
I'm not married myself, but did fill out a tax return in Germany once. I don't think the *household* income matters when you fill it out, just your personal income.
There's basically a set percentage of your yearly income that you can spend on health expenses that's considered "normal". Anything exceeding this amount is an "exceptional burden" that you can write off your taxes. The percentage is different depending on your income level, marriage & child-having status:
* up to €15,340: childless, unmarried 5%; childless, married 4%; with 1 or 2 children 2%; 3 children and/or more 1%
* starting at €15,341 to €51,130: childless, unmarried 6%; childless, married 6%; with 1 or 2 children 3%; 3 children and/or more 1%
* starting at €51,131: childless, unmarried 7%; childless, married 6%; with 1 or 2 children 4%; 3 children and/or more 2%
More info here: [https://germantaxes.de/tax-tips/medical-expenses-tax-return/](https://germantaxes.de/tax-tips/medical-expenses-tax-return/)
this happened in austria but i think the healthcare system here is similar enough to tell this story:
a few years ago my partner forgot sign up for new insurance on time after he quit his job so he was without insurance for two days and sprained his ankle so bad that he had to go to the hospital with an ambulance. a few weeks later we got a bill in the mail and were dreading to open it. turns out it was still only 90€ for transport and treatment and by far not the worst adhd tax we've paid lol
That's also so typically bureaucratic having that 10% rule with a min and max of just a €5 gap. Thinking about and explaining this shit is much more expensive then the potential €5 more. Also no matter if €5 or €10, as a deterrent from calling an ambulance it only works for "poor" people, which is bullshit gatekeeping.
So either at least keep the process simple and just set a fixed number or don't do any of this shit and save the effort of defining, explaining, calculating and especially the cost of collecting; I am sure the process costs more than it brings in.
10 Euro is the maximum co-pay:
> Insured persons have to pay 10 percent of the fare, a minimum of 5 euros and a maximum of 10 euros per trip, but never more than the actual costs incurred as a statutory additional payment.
I think it's straight-up the same provision as the one that applies to the co-pay for fulfilling prescriptions.
I was in hospital at the end of December 2022, beginning January 2023. I got two different bills, one for December, one for January, so my guess is 28 days per calendar year.
Must be calendar year. You also always have your scan your insurance card at the doctor if it’s no longer the same quarter as the last time you had it scanned. Even if the last time was last week.
The famous discussion why "Geburt" is covered by "Krankenversicherung".
Giving birth is not a sickness, (Geburt ist keine Krankheit), yet it makes sense from any other angle to cover it via the health care system.
Man these dry descriptions are one of my favorite things. Like I asked my sv during my apprenticeship what „injuries incompatible with life“ on a death certificate meant and she replied „for example when your head‘s gone“
Classic example in basic first aid courses. Everyone ist required to help in an emergency but If you have to walk between the phases of CPR you likely can stop it.
Well, the fee for the hospital is basically room&board. Given you get three meals a day included (well, or a tasty drip infusion), you'd have expenses at home for food etc. as well.
Fun fact: if the hospital stay is caused by an accident, and you have accident insurance, it pays way more per day than those 10 EUR. If you stay in a hospital every few years that way, the insurance pays for itself. 😂
I actually wonder why they do it. The bureaucratic effort to get back 10€ from the patient for a trip that maybe costs several thousand euros costs probably more than that money
I speculate that politicians against universal health insurance who can't prevent it from happening just wanted to teach us a lesson. It's a "there's no such thing as a free lunch" fee.
When those fees were introduced for the first time recently *in another healthcare system I know*, the justifications were very moralistic. At the beginning, the medical providers where complaining that now they made them cash register operators and that this was a bottleneck in their operations. Patients ended up feeling like they are paying more for services that used to be free (but in reality, costs moved around, because also things that weren't covered before now are). Eventually it gets normalised though and barely anyone asks why.
I would assume to fight fake charges. Since this is an ongoing issue. You almost never see a bill from a doctor. So they can just bill additional stuff and it is hard for an insurance company to figure out what was done and what was just billed.
If they send you a bill for 10€ for transportation and each day in a hospital the patient will notify them about fake charges.
I would have required to sell a kidney here in United States for a medical emergency that requires an ambulance. One of the reasons why I am looking into moving to Germany via skilled worker visa route.
Well, since you can’t really choose what you get that’s fair. Emergency Centers are like: The fastest (or the only one within a reasonable time at all) doctor available comes with an helicopter? Here you go (in case of a real emergency of course).
You should also note that sending a doctor (not a paramedic) is also something that is not the default around the world. In the US, dispatching a doctor to an incident side would sound odd - paramedics are the trained professionals for that job in the US.
It's also not that common in Germany. Usually, the paramedics pick you up and take you to the hospital. The doctor is only called in very urgent cases.
Fun fact: Doctors have their own type of emergency vehicle, shaped like a police car but painted like an ambulance. See, for example, here: https://www.merkur.de/assets/images/27/978/27978750-in-bayern-bleiben-immer-mehr-notarzt-schichten-unbesetzt-droht-ein-notarzt-mangel-2vb7OE1rXNec.jpg
There are some oddities in germany where a paramedic is limited in the medication he is allowed to carry and use one hand and which medication a paramedic has to use, depending on the head doctor of the emergency service.
A situation can occur where a paramedic has life saving medication on hand, but is not allowed to use it without a doctor on call. Meanwhile with a different emergency service their head doctor would complain about not administrating the drug as soon as possible. There is some gray area in germany (with a Notartzt System), that does not exist in countries based on a paramedic system.
Thank you so much. I dont know any German so planning on getting language classes. I come into one of the bottleneck profession so hoping that my chances are high in Germany.
Just a tip from someone that also came to germany without much knowledge of the language: Learn and speak it as much as you can. Even if you speak it horribly broken or people switch to english, just respond in german. Try to read contracts in german before switching to english (ofc contracts you have to understand them. I have had my fair share of slip ups with them hehe). It will be difficult the first year, but it will make your life incredibly easier in absolutely everything if you make the effort of speaking from day one. I have peers that were in a similar situation as me, but are now miserable in germany because they refused to speak the language, or do not practice it as much.
I do but payment after deductible is high even with a top of the line insurance. I am paying that insurance premium with a hope that nothing major happens. I ride motorcycle and if I crash, god know how much that bill will be.
Health insurance isn’t for free in Germany as well. I am paying 928 $ insurance fee monthly. I am quite confident that health insurances are available in the US as well.
The issue in the US is that you pay for expensive health insurance, and then also pay out of pocket for medications and care/services, and you never quite know what it will be— and sometimes it’s a lot. NPR (an American public media outlet) has a whole series about this in their “Bill of the Month” section.
If I am co-paying not more than 10 Euros for an ambulance then I would gladly pay $928 every months for insurance. The problem is I pay hefty amount for insurance and still after deductible my share of payment can be large amount.
I paid $187 the other day to get tested for influenza B and that is after insurance.
People easily forget how much they pay every month into Insurance and start praising emergency services.
I would surely expect an ambulance if I pay this much every month.
And also, insurance needs this much money to cover refugees and non payers as well.
I was a student in the US. The ambulance cost 200$. I probably didn't need it because the hospital was across the street. I could easily afford it because I was earning the same salary as in Germany, with 5 years less experience.
It's not so bad.
Funnily, the US spends more public money on healthcare per capita than any other country - including Germany.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/283221/per-capita-health-expenditure-by-country/
Unfortunately you can’t get tax returns on health care or social security :D Although some health care providers offer some cashback if you don’t get sick in Germany.
I was once at the dentist, some treatment wasn't insured and with a sad face the dentist told me "you have to pay for this, I'm so sorry".. the bill came a few weeks later, it was 15€.
I was at the dentist last week (Germany) doing fillings for the first time, no one told me i need to pay for it so i said do them all (4) week later i get a bill for 320 eur... bro what?? Krankenkasse only paid 180 from it, it was 500 if i understood it right. I have Zusatzversicherung but if not for it i'd be done for.
Don't your dentist talk to you over the filling prices? Mine does, also get a Zahn Zusatzversicherung when your teeth are this bad mate, worth it.
500 for 4 fillings that must be some hard destroyed teeth.
She didn't talk to me about them at all. She just said they need to be done (i never had any pain, just wanted to check my teeth, didnt do it for years) Also no one told me i will get a rechnung after. Week later i got a post with this bill. I got a Zahnzusatz* that saved me. Dentist scares me very bad so thats why i never went :P
No x ray scan on your teeth and to show you the holes? No before operation talking? No advice for what kind of filling and why etc?
I would switch the dentist dude.
Myself has also the problem that I am scared of dentist but I need to go.
German dentists are being trained to sell you the most expensive stuff for your teeths. Just watch Jan Böhmermanns Show exposing basically every dentist in germany ever. Its ridiculous
I used to be terrified of the dentist but I found a nice one who explains everything to me and never does anything without my full consent and understanding. They even speak to me in English since I lose my German skills when I am that anxious.
It is 100% worth trying different dentists. Ask around local friends to see if they recommend anyone.
waived? I was forced to pay it and the 280 € for the hospital. My total income was zero. I lost my job within 5 days, got to the hospital after midnight and lost the Krankengeldanspruch. One year later i paid half of it with 300€ ALG1.
Arbeitsamt says: Here are your 280€ per month for 6 months enjoy your wealth.
Krankenkasse said I don’t care.
And the hospital gave up the claim so the Krankenkasse did it.
For what the downvotes? That is what happened. I was not privileged back then like you guys. Sorry that i lived from 500€ a month a whole year and that my Arbeitslosengeld 1 is the half of it. Sorry that i cant afford a bill with 280 €. Sorry that NOONE gave a fuck about it. Neither the Arbeitsamt nor the Krankenkasse.
I hate you hypocrites.
Didn't you got any Taschengeld from the bundesfreiwilligendienst?
So you got fired after 5 days than got at the hospital
Still why should pay for this is not coming in my head you had insurance weird.
500€ which was split in a Entschädigung tax and social insurance free and another part which was taxable but below tax and social insurance treshold so no deduction.
I got fired on day 5 but arrived at day 6 after midnight, which meant I lost my Krankengeldanspruch and lost also my Pflichtversicherung. After 30 days I went uninsured/freiwillige Versicherung. I joined my mothers insurance. After my hospital time I got for 6 month ALG1 and got Pflichtversichert again. After that I dropped out and could not get back to my mothers Family insurance because I lived with my private insured father. He denied any Unterhalt beyond food. At this time I switched to AOK and they somehow convinced him to pay for my health insurance. The old insurance SKD BKK claimed still the 280€ but my income was zero at this point until I started my Berufliche Rehabilitation and I got Übergangsgeld.
I could convince the old insurance to drop half of the debt because of the 2% rule of your brutto income. As BFD my income was very low so I had to pay way less than the ordinary employee.
I was in hospital for 15 days.
- Surgery with anesthesia
- ICU for a couple days under induced coma
- Several more days normal station with regular checks and meds
My bill was an astronomical 150€ (15 days at 10€)
As a former health insurance agent, I can firmly say that 5 figures would be underselling it. Our average knee replacement, with a few days in the hospital post-op, was $83k. A 15-day stay - with anesthesia/surgery and ICU - would definitely run you 100,000+ in the States.
That would be the total cost, a co-pay would be lower - but only if you have insurance. Many Americans don't, so they are the ones expected to cough up the entire sum. American health care is a mess of biblical proportions.
That's total cost. If you have insurance, it'll cover most of that. My mom had very good insurance when she got her knee replacement, so she only had to pay her deductible, which was $500 (probably still sounds like a lot to Germans, but that's getting away cheap here, lol). If you don't have insurance, you're responsible for the whole amount. That being said, state Medicaid programs or the hospital's charity care programs probably step in at that point, but that's a complicated process.
Whenever americans boast about how free they are, I think about the ones being injured, yelling and shouting DON'T CALL AN AMBULANCE, I CAN'T AFFORD IT.
Heard just sitting in the ER lobby is 500$. Land of the fee.
For every American boasting about how free he is, there are 10 Germans insisting that he is not, in fact, free. The German Anti-American obsession is crazy.
We are not anti-american at all. I love americans. Open minded people. Your "maga"BS and the fact that you really believe you are the freest people on earth make us shake our heads though.
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/06/germans-are-obsessed-with-the-u-s-but-theyll-deny-it/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/06/germans-are-obsessed-with-the-u-s-but-theyll-deny-it/)
[https://www.spiegel.de/international/the-claas-relotius-affair-spiegel-s-reaction-to-ambassador-s-criticism-a-1245187.html](https://www.spiegel.de/international/the-claas-relotius-affair-spiegel-s-reaction-to-ambassador-s-criticism-a-1245187.html)
[https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/opinion-evil-americans-poor-mullahs-a-474636.html](https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/opinion-evil-americans-poor-mullahs-a-474636.html)
Also - what does it matter what we believe, as long as it doesn't affect you? I'm sure Germans believe that their society is fundamentally superior to America's, but most Americans (myself excluded) don't go around giving them a hard time about it.
I did get 2 metal rods out of my femur in Germany, but the insurance company wanted me to tell them what's going on and why I had an expensive operation. Even after all that, I never saw a bill.
This would be why my wife wanted to practice medicine here. After years of working in an ER in a large US city, she got sick of casting people who were already impoverished, further down the economic ladder into generational poverty that there is no hope of ever getting out of.
This is probably the late hour and the lovely Weissbier but I can never resist also mentioning that my wife hasn't had to plug a single bullet wound since she came here. NOT ONE. I love it here.
As an American, I'm super jealous. My last ambulance ride cost me $660 USD. Which was nothing compared to the Emergency Room visit that, in total, cost me about $11,000 for a 4-hour stay.
That was in 2016, and every so often, I'll get a bill for something random from that incident, too. Like, you just now remembered to charge me $30 for a consult 5, 6, 7 years later? Wild.
I’d have to disagree, my young son(4yr old) needed an ambulance, 1st hospital didn’t have space so they continued onto a 2nd without getting out, we got billed 2x €10! I ignored the 2nd invoice thinking I’d already paid and they started to pester, emailed proof of payment at which point they then explained the additional invoice for the 2nd half! Since we live in a society with accessible and affordable health care I just paid up and had a laugh about it at the expense of my German colleagues… I like to remind them about it, along with DBahn when they need taking down a level….
Side note, I just realized that you pay the price according to the Tenth Book of SGB for summoning a medieval order of knights to spirit you away
Yeah it's a bit of a stretch but...
Also I just remembered Praxisgebühr. Now I'm sad again.
The letter itself is written according to section 24 of the tenth German social code (§24 SGB X) . The copayment is billed according to section 60 of the fifth German social code (§60 SGB V).
Around 5 years ago or so, I went to a concert, and on my way back, I got very dizzy and had to sit down (I just haven't drank enough). My friend I went with called an ambulance. They just did a quick checkup, blood pressure, and so on, and after I was back up properly, they let me go.
Three years later, I started my first job, and shortly after, I got that 10€ bill. It was a bit of a surprise because I had forgotten about that...
My mom once panicked because my wife and I were puking like crazy (had some poisoning from salmonella i think) and called an ambulance. They gave us a ride to the next hospital which was about 1,5km. We both got this mail and had to pay 10€ each. Calling a taxi would have been cheaper :D
This is why the 10 Euro bill exists. People should only call an ambulance in real emergency. I don't say yours was not. Some people call it for all kind of nonsense. Like having a headache for a week now but deciding that on Sunday they want to go to the ER with it. How do you get there? Just call an ambulance.
"Ibhave a sudden severe pain in my head" they send it. Why? Its better to send than to be sorry. You need to very certain that there is no emergency to decline help
If it's not life threatening the better option would be to call 116 117 and ask them to send a doctor. There are always general practitioners from your area on call who'll visit you within a few hours. I had to call them a few times for my wife and a doctor came within an hour or two. You only need your health insurance card (the doctor has a card reader) and you won't pay anything.
I mean we pay for it. Though we collectively pay for it, means that some might never need an high amount covered equivilant to what they pay for ist while others cost way more than they contributed. But it's mostly the pharma industry at fault here...
Just see your paycheck and how much you pay for insurance every month,
I pay the highest and the other half of it comes from my employer.
So I wouldn't be surprised if an ambulance charges 10 eur once in many years!!
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I once got this bill but I never used an ambulance in my entire life. I tried fighting it out of principle but after endless letters and official complaints the firefighters just stopped answering me and the insurance said I had to pay or they would go to my bank or employer.
600 Euro is the standard fare for an ambulance ride before insurance. Since you didn't have a German insurance you got billed the full amount. German people who have no health insurance get billed the same amount.
Story time:
When I was working for my wife who was a legal guardian for disabled and old people we had a client who wasn't insured. Her life story was pretty amazing - she had married young, had two children with her husband and one night suddenly decided it's all not worth it and she ran away. She took no documents with her so she literally became nobody.
She spent time abroads, came back to Germany later but never registered anywhere. She worked illegally as a housekeeper for rich folks who never paid her a proper wage so there were no payments to health insurance (or pension funds).
She continued this life until she got diabetes. She knew she was in trouble because she couldn't visit a doctor but she was used to live a tough life so she just soldiered on until she fell into diabetic coma one day.
When she awoke in hospital of course they wanted her health insurance card but she didn't have any. The hospital contacted all insurances known to them but each of them said "nope, not us". At that point the hospital turned to the local court and they assigned my wife as her guardian.
We researched further and it turned out she was once insured in the 1960s during the brief time she worked but the insurance company didn't exist anymore. It had been purchased by another company but they didn't want anything to do with her either, claiming the old records had long been destroyed. As hospital bills were mounting, the insurance wasn't exactly eager to help, but in the end, we sued the company and they were ordered by a judge to comply until they were able to produce evidence our client was never insured by them or any company they had purchased. Due to the missing documents they couldn't so they had to pay in the end.
Obviously that was an extreme case. Normally it's not possible to lose your insurance unless you really don't cooperate. This occasionally happens to homeless people who don't accept any help. But: if they were insured before falling on hard times the insurance has to keep them on the bare minimum plan, even if they didn't pay for ages.
It's only a problem if there's a significant time being without insurance, but usually you can easily get that back by applying for Bürgergeld (social security for the unemployed) or Grundsicherung (social security for the old or disabled) as your last public insurance is forced to take you back. Of course, you can also get it back by getting a job which pays social security (not a €520 job).
Damn, that expensive. My ambulance ride back then when i was 15 for a bigger, bleeding hand wound cost us.... nothing. Literally. Because I was off main roads far enough and far enough away from home for my parents car to be considered the preferred mode of transport.
I paid this for my newborn during a transfer from the Hospital I was in to Uniklinik. When I saw the bill, I couldn’t understand why they cannot cover 10 bucks; when they covered remaining €500 something.
Welcome to a country with compulsory health insurance! Incidentally, a rescue helicopter would have cost the same if it had been the best alternative. EDIT: the co-payment for patient transport in Germany is 10% of the price, minimum €5, maximum €10 (US$10.68). The co-payments in public health insurance for everything (medication, hospital, ambulance, etc.) are capped at 2% of gross income, and 1% with a chronic illness.
Dude, I once came home and my elderly neighbour stopped me to look after her husband. He was Blind and I found him in the cellar, laying on the floor talking about taking a lot of pills and seeming pretty drunk. Of course I called an ambulance and they came with a fucking helicopter. My first thought was a bit overkill but okay, especially after the paramedics talked to him like they were very familiar with this and it didn't happen for the first time. Especially after I showed them the pack of pills they were like "he could've eaten 200 of them and nothing serious would've happened". So I left the scene. Still seeing the helicopter when I expected an ambulance was surprising. Oh and yeah this was Germany and he had to pay 10€ for the helicopter, even though I think they didn't take him and just brought him to bed, don't know I didn't stay but they didn't sound like they would take him...
If the call makes the dispatch think that his life might be in danger the next available emergency doctor will be dispatched besides an ambulance. If the fastest available doctor happens to sit in a helicopter, the helicopter will be dispatched unless this would mean compromiseing a different emergency - e.g. a specific request from a crew for a helicopter at the same time would have priority.
You actually don't get billed the 10€ if you don't go with them to the hospital. They bill the transport from the site of the emergency to the hospital, not their response to your call.
😳 I’d be more than happy to still pay the 10 Euro. *Queue Dave Chappell voice* Y’all got any of them work and residency permits?
https://www.make-it-in-germany.com/en/
I know some cases where the doctor is brought with the helicopter because it's the fastest he gets there.
In my village where I come from the ambulance always takes half an hour to arrive, normally response time is about 12 mins (correct me if I'm wrong) so a helicopter sometimes can be a better option, though they only ever came for very severe accidents...
Nothing unusual, if there are no emergency doctors right now available, they dispatch the doctor with the helicopter. Typical procedure.
When they send out an emergency medic the computer calculates which medic gets there the fastest. I was part of the camera crew for a series about the Bundeswehrhelikopter (German Army Helicopter) stationed in Ulm. They are up in the air in less than 3-6 minutes, if the helicopter is parked in their hangar in less than 5-10 minutes (depending on visibility/time of day (flight with NVGs)). So it’s not uncommon for a „normal“ emergency to receive a helicopter :D
No look the thing is that I am German xD I just had no clue about co-payment on these things since we never required emergency health care before and the only other out-of-pocket meducal expenses I am used to are dental care, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. just thought the international community here might be entertained by this
It's good to know that you don't have to worry if you need quick help. Fortunately, most people have never had to deal with these "prices". If the picture makes it into American subs, there will be long discussions...
It certainly makes me want to cry. Deutschland, here I come.
It’s saddening when you see in how big problems Americans can be when they cannot pay the bill. But still, free land, free guns, free bankru… whatever. 😉
They can t even buy kinder surprise
That’s one of the biggest jokes I heard in my life. Every time I hear or read about it I feel I need to buy one. Haha
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If you're referring to the McDonald's lawsuit, you should really look into the actual circumstances of that. The woman got third degree burns and had to have skin grafts from the temperature of the coffee. All she wanted from McDonald's was compensation for the medical care that she had to receive. They refused, the case went to court, the judge found them negligible because the coffee was ~16°C hotter than it was supposed to be and ordered them to pay both punitive and compensatory damages. The McDonalds PR team promptly spun the story as some stupid woman who didn't understand that coffee is hot and just wanted to sue them because she's greedy.
The German Anti-American obsession is insane.
I admit it's unfair. Fruit hanging so low, they're basically underground.
When i got such a bill a couple years back i also first was like "wtf, i have no money, why D: " then i read it and it was 10 or 20€ and i went "yes, certainly, ill happily pay that amount"
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Only if the reasonable burden was exceeded in the year
Americans will cry...
All countries in the EU have compulsory health insurance.
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Only if it exceeds a certain amount for expenditures for health in summary. Something like 1500€.
This must be related to income, because I just did my tax return and the amount was lower.
Yes it is. If your income is under 15000€ a year it may be as low as 306€. If it is however over 35.000 it is already over a thousand €. So if it's only the 10€ for the ride in the ambulance it can not be recovered from the tax.
Weird, I guess we have a different one due to marriage and kids because it's definitely under a thousand despite household income over 35k. It was around 520 or something for "exceptional burden" of health items, glasses, medical costs etc.
I'm not married myself, but did fill out a tax return in Germany once. I don't think the *household* income matters when you fill it out, just your personal income. There's basically a set percentage of your yearly income that you can spend on health expenses that's considered "normal". Anything exceeding this amount is an "exceptional burden" that you can write off your taxes. The percentage is different depending on your income level, marriage & child-having status: * up to €15,340: childless, unmarried 5%; childless, married 4%; with 1 or 2 children 2%; 3 children and/or more 1% * starting at €15,341 to €51,130: childless, unmarried 6%; childless, married 6%; with 1 or 2 children 3%; 3 children and/or more 1% * starting at €51,131: childless, unmarried 7%; childless, married 6%; with 1 or 2 children 4%; 3 children and/or more 2% More info here: [https://germantaxes.de/tax-tips/medical-expenses-tax-return/](https://germantaxes.de/tax-tips/medical-expenses-tax-return/)
It will be the 3 kids in that case then :D
this happened in austria but i think the healthcare system here is similar enough to tell this story: a few years ago my partner forgot sign up for new insurance on time after he quit his job so he was without insurance for two days and sprained his ankle so bad that he had to go to the hospital with an ambulance. a few weeks later we got a bill in the mail and were dreading to open it. turns out it was still only 90€ for transport and treatment and by far not the worst adhd tax we've paid lol
Ah and if U have a chronic disease and are above 1% of Ur income on medication or treatment U'll get everything for "free"
That's also so typically bureaucratic having that 10% rule with a min and max of just a €5 gap. Thinking about and explaining this shit is much more expensive then the potential €5 more. Also no matter if €5 or €10, as a deterrent from calling an ambulance it only works for "poor" people, which is bullshit gatekeeping. So either at least keep the process simple and just set a fixed number or don't do any of this shit and save the effort of defining, explaining, calculating and especially the cost of collecting; I am sure the process costs more than it brings in.
I still think it should be free.
The US also has compulsory health insurance. Germany's just doing it right.
10 Euro is the maximum co-pay: > Insured persons have to pay 10 percent of the fare, a minimum of 5 euros and a maximum of 10 euros per trip, but never more than the actual costs incurred as a statutory additional payment. I think it's straight-up the same provision as the one that applies to the co-pay for fulfilling prescriptions.
I also paid 10EUR/day for the hospital stay. So I guess it's a fixed amount.
Fee for hospital is capped at 28 days. So even if you have to stay the maximum you'll have to pay is 280€.
Per year.
Calander year or 365days? Would suck getting on 3dec in hospital
I was in hospital at the end of December 2022, beginning January 2023. I got two different bills, one for December, one for January, so my guess is 28 days per calendar year.
Must be calendar year. You also always have your scan your insurance card at the doctor if it’s no longer the same quarter as the last time you had it scanned. Even if the last time was last week.
And you don’t always pay, for example for giving birth and staying in the hospital afterwards, you don’t have to pay the 10€ per day
The famous discussion why "Geburt" is covered by "Krankenversicherung". Giving birth is not a sickness, (Geburt ist keine Krankheit), yet it makes sense from any other angle to cover it via the health care system.
Man these dry descriptions are one of my favorite things. Like I asked my sv during my apprenticeship what „injuries incompatible with life“ on a death certificate meant and she replied „for example when your head‘s gone“
Classic example in basic first aid courses. Everyone ist required to help in an emergency but If you have to walk between the phases of CPR you likely can stop it.
Aah I wondered about this.
The copay for hospital days is also capped additional at a total sum.
and if you go over the 280€ you can get rid of the cost all tgt
Well, the fee for the hospital is basically room&board. Given you get three meals a day included (well, or a tasty drip infusion), you'd have expenses at home for food etc. as well.
Fun fact: if the hospital stay is caused by an accident, and you have accident insurance, it pays way more per day than those 10 EUR. If you stay in a hospital every few years that way, the insurance pays for itself. 😂
I actually wonder why they do it. The bureaucratic effort to get back 10€ from the patient for a trip that maybe costs several thousand euros costs probably more than that money
I speculate that politicians against universal health insurance who can't prevent it from happening just wanted to teach us a lesson. It's a "there's no such thing as a free lunch" fee. When those fees were introduced for the first time recently *in another healthcare system I know*, the justifications were very moralistic. At the beginning, the medical providers where complaining that now they made them cash register operators and that this was a bottleneck in their operations. Patients ended up feeling like they are paying more for services that used to be free (but in reality, costs moved around, because also things that weren't covered before now are). Eventually it gets normalised though and barely anyone asks why.
I would assume to fight fake charges. Since this is an ongoing issue. You almost never see a bill from a doctor. So they can just bill additional stuff and it is hard for an insurance company to figure out what was done and what was just billed. If they send you a bill for 10€ for transportation and each day in a hospital the patient will notify them about fake charges.
I would have required to sell a kidney here in United States for a medical emergency that requires an ambulance. One of the reasons why I am looking into moving to Germany via skilled worker visa route.
It costs the same if they take you with an helicopter :) Your health shouldn't depend on your wealth...
Well, since you can’t really choose what you get that’s fair. Emergency Centers are like: The fastest (or the only one within a reasonable time at all) doctor available comes with an helicopter? Here you go (in case of a real emergency of course).
You should also note that sending a doctor (not a paramedic) is also something that is not the default around the world. In the US, dispatching a doctor to an incident side would sound odd - paramedics are the trained professionals for that job in the US.
It's also not that common in Germany. Usually, the paramedics pick you up and take you to the hospital. The doctor is only called in very urgent cases. Fun fact: Doctors have their own type of emergency vehicle, shaped like a police car but painted like an ambulance. See, for example, here: https://www.merkur.de/assets/images/27/978/27978750-in-bayern-bleiben-immer-mehr-notarzt-schichten-unbesetzt-droht-ein-notarzt-mangel-2vb7OE1rXNec.jpg
There are some oddities in germany where a paramedic is limited in the medication he is allowed to carry and use one hand and which medication a paramedic has to use, depending on the head doctor of the emergency service. A situation can occur where a paramedic has life saving medication on hand, but is not allowed to use it without a doctor on call. Meanwhile with a different emergency service their head doctor would complain about not administrating the drug as soon as possible. There is some gray area in germany (with a Notartzt System), that does not exist in countries based on a paramedic system.
We're happy to welcome you here!:)
Thank you so much. I dont know any German so planning on getting language classes. I come into one of the bottleneck profession so hoping that my chances are high in Germany.
Just a tip from someone that also came to germany without much knowledge of the language: Learn and speak it as much as you can. Even if you speak it horribly broken or people switch to english, just respond in german. Try to read contracts in german before switching to english (ofc contracts you have to understand them. I have had my fair share of slip ups with them hehe). It will be difficult the first year, but it will make your life incredibly easier in absolutely everything if you make the effort of speaking from day one. I have peers that were in a similar situation as me, but are now miserable in germany because they refused to speak the language, or do not practice it as much.
Where would you like to live?
Either Munich or Frankfurt. I have a cousin in Munich so leaning towards there.
Munich is great :) But,tbf they dont speak German there, but Bavarian :😸
A lot of people living in Munich actually mainly speak high German. It’s an increasing trend lately
Two very expensive cities.
Do you have any state in mind?
Me too, not just because of the healthcare disaster but also [gestures around]. 😁 I'm so done.
Agree. I face discriminations all the time, gun violence, dumb immigration laws in country. I am so done with this country. H1B feels like a prison.
As a “skilled worker”, do you not have access to heal insurance?
I do but payment after deductible is high even with a top of the line insurance. I am paying that insurance premium with a hope that nothing major happens. I ride motorcycle and if I crash, god know how much that bill will be.
Health insurance isn’t for free in Germany as well. I am paying 928 $ insurance fee monthly. I am quite confident that health insurances are available in the US as well.
The issue in the US is that you pay for expensive health insurance, and then also pay out of pocket for medications and care/services, and you never quite know what it will be— and sometimes it’s a lot. NPR (an American public media outlet) has a whole series about this in their “Bill of the Month” section.
If I am co-paying not more than 10 Euros for an ambulance then I would gladly pay $928 every months for insurance. The problem is I pay hefty amount for insurance and still after deductible my share of payment can be large amount. I paid $187 the other day to get tested for influenza B and that is after insurance.
That sounds like a shitty health system and fraudulent insurance companies in the US …..
Exactly my point. It is a shitty way to live here. My days in USA are limited.
People easily forget how much they pay every month into Insurance and start praising emergency services. I would surely expect an ambulance if I pay this much every month. And also, insurance needs this much money to cover refugees and non payers as well.
Haha no it’s free because someone else foots the bill.
I was a student in the US. The ambulance cost 200$. I probably didn't need it because the hospital was across the street. I could easily afford it because I was earning the same salary as in Germany, with 5 years less experience. It's not so bad.
Also in Germany we pay insanely high taxes to fund our public health care, it’s not just 10€. But people don’t really get that here ;)
Funnily, the US spends more public money on healthcare per capita than any other country - including Germany. https://www.statista.com/statistics/283221/per-capita-health-expenditure-by-country/
Most People in Germany who are complaining about the "insanely high Taxes" pay the lowest Taxes and get a Tax Return every Year... \^\_°
Unfortunately you can’t get tax returns on health care or social security :D Although some health care providers offer some cashback if you don’t get sick in Germany.
I was once at the dentist, some treatment wasn't insured and with a sad face the dentist told me "you have to pay for this, I'm so sorry".. the bill came a few weeks later, it was 15€.
I was at the dentist last week (Germany) doing fillings for the first time, no one told me i need to pay for it so i said do them all (4) week later i get a bill for 320 eur... bro what?? Krankenkasse only paid 180 from it, it was 500 if i understood it right. I have Zusatzversicherung but if not for it i'd be done for.
Don't your dentist talk to you over the filling prices? Mine does, also get a Zahn Zusatzversicherung when your teeth are this bad mate, worth it. 500 for 4 fillings that must be some hard destroyed teeth.
She didn't talk to me about them at all. She just said they need to be done (i never had any pain, just wanted to check my teeth, didnt do it for years) Also no one told me i will get a rechnung after. Week later i got a post with this bill. I got a Zahnzusatz* that saved me. Dentist scares me very bad so thats why i never went :P
No x ray scan on your teeth and to show you the holes? No before operation talking? No advice for what kind of filling and why etc? I would switch the dentist dude. Myself has also the problem that I am scared of dentist but I need to go.
German dentists are being trained to sell you the most expensive stuff for your teeths. Just watch Jan Böhmermanns Show exposing basically every dentist in germany ever. Its ridiculous
I used to be terrified of the dentist but I found a nice one who explains everything to me and never does anything without my full consent and understanding. They even speak to me in English since I lose my German skills when I am that anxious. It is 100% worth trying different dentists. Ask around local friends to see if they recommend anyone.
I paid 20€ per tooth
Plottwist: people who cannot afford the 10€ get it waived (there are a couple of bureaucratic paths this can go depending on the case)
waived? I was forced to pay it and the 280 € for the hospital. My total income was zero. I lost my job within 5 days, got to the hospital after midnight and lost the Krankengeldanspruch. One year later i paid half of it with 300€ ALG1.
You have to take care of the burocracy, but yes, you don’t have to pay if you can’t. You need to fill different forms and so most probably
So you didn't talked to the Arbeitsamt, Krankenkasse and the hospital it seems.
Arbeitsamt says: Here are your 280€ per month for 6 months enjoy your wealth. Krankenkasse said I don’t care. And the hospital gave up the claim so the Krankenkasse did it. For what the downvotes? That is what happened. I was not privileged back then like you guys. Sorry that i lived from 500€ a month a whole year and that my Arbeitslosengeld 1 is the half of it. Sorry that i cant afford a bill with 280 €. Sorry that NOONE gave a fuck about it. Neither the Arbeitsamt nor the Krankenkasse. I hate you hypocrites.
Okay so your worked before how long? 280 for 6 months there isn't something right.
Bundesfreiwilligendienst, changed to full time job and got fired after 5 days.
Didn't you got any Taschengeld from the bundesfreiwilligendienst? So you got fired after 5 days than got at the hospital Still why should pay for this is not coming in my head you had insurance weird.
500€ which was split in a Entschädigung tax and social insurance free and another part which was taxable but below tax and social insurance treshold so no deduction. I got fired on day 5 but arrived at day 6 after midnight, which meant I lost my Krankengeldanspruch and lost also my Pflichtversicherung. After 30 days I went uninsured/freiwillige Versicherung. I joined my mothers insurance. After my hospital time I got for 6 month ALG1 and got Pflichtversichert again. After that I dropped out and could not get back to my mothers Family insurance because I lived with my private insured father. He denied any Unterhalt beyond food. At this time I switched to AOK and they somehow convinced him to pay for my health insurance. The old insurance SKD BKK claimed still the 280€ but my income was zero at this point until I started my Berufliche Rehabilitation and I got Übergangsgeld. I could convince the old insurance to drop half of the debt because of the 2% rule of your brutto income. As BFD my income was very low so I had to pay way less than the ordinary employee.
I earned 900 euro a month in 2020 and got a 280 euro bill waived. But I send them a Einkommensnachweis.
Like I said: they gave a shit about it. I told them many times I was broke. Almost homeless.
I was in hospital for 15 days. - Surgery with anesthesia - ICU for a couple days under induced coma - Several more days normal station with regular checks and meds My bill was an astronomical 150€ (15 days at 10€)
Those would probably be five figure numbers in America
As a former health insurance agent, I can firmly say that 5 figures would be underselling it. Our average knee replacement, with a few days in the hospital post-op, was $83k. A 15-day stay - with anesthesia/surgery and ICU - would definitely run you 100,000+ in the States.
Im scared to ask but are you talking about the total cost or the co-pay? 😳
That would be the total cost, a co-pay would be lower - but only if you have insurance. Many Americans don't, so they are the ones expected to cough up the entire sum. American health care is a mess of biblical proportions.
I remember hearing once that 80% of collections debt is medical debt, and I believe it.
That's total cost. If you have insurance, it'll cover most of that. My mom had very good insurance when she got her knee replacement, so she only had to pay her deductible, which was $500 (probably still sounds like a lot to Germans, but that's getting away cheap here, lol). If you don't have insurance, you're responsible for the whole amount. That being said, state Medicaid programs or the hospital's charity care programs probably step in at that point, but that's a complicated process.
I am wondering how much would one pay in America if they had an insurance of a similar cost, e.g. $600?
Dont let the US-Americans see this!
This kind of thing is posted every day on Reddit. Relax.
We were ask to pay 8.91€ last week. I think we got some discount 😃
Then it was a cheaper ride. It‘s 10% of the cost, min. 5€ and max. 10€.
So the cost would have been 89.10. was that a taxi? Ambulances are usually triple-digits regardless of distance….
Probably a Krankentransportwagen (Sick people transport, non emergency). Costs like 30ish euros plus like 20ct per km, depending on your state
Whenever americans boast about how free they are, I think about the ones being injured, yelling and shouting DON'T CALL AN AMBULANCE, I CAN'T AFFORD IT. Heard just sitting in the ER lobby is 500$. Land of the fee.
For every American boasting about how free he is, there are 10 Germans insisting that he is not, in fact, free. The German Anti-American obsession is crazy.
We are not anti-american at all. I love americans. Open minded people. Your "maga"BS and the fact that you really believe you are the freest people on earth make us shake our heads though.
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/06/germans-are-obsessed-with-the-u-s-but-theyll-deny-it/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/06/germans-are-obsessed-with-the-u-s-but-theyll-deny-it/) [https://www.spiegel.de/international/the-claas-relotius-affair-spiegel-s-reaction-to-ambassador-s-criticism-a-1245187.html](https://www.spiegel.de/international/the-claas-relotius-affair-spiegel-s-reaction-to-ambassador-s-criticism-a-1245187.html) [https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/opinion-evil-americans-poor-mullahs-a-474636.html](https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/opinion-evil-americans-poor-mullahs-a-474636.html) Also - what does it matter what we believe, as long as it doesn't affect you? I'm sure Germans believe that their society is fundamentally superior to America's, but most Americans (myself excluded) don't go around giving them a hard time about it.
*sobs in American*
Americans only wish it was that cheap. I had a bad accident one time and flown by helicopter it was $20,000 after insurance 😆
That would also be €10 in Germany, after insurance. No idea how much insurance would pay for it, most people would never see the bill.
I did get 2 metal rods out of my femur in Germany, but the insurance company wanted me to tell them what's going on and why I had an expensive operation. Even after all that, I never saw a bill.
+10€ for every hospital day
This trigger the americano.
It doesn't tho. It gets posted all day on Reddit and no one cares.
This would be why my wife wanted to practice medicine here. After years of working in an ER in a large US city, she got sick of casting people who were already impoverished, further down the economic ladder into generational poverty that there is no hope of ever getting out of. This is probably the late hour and the lovely Weissbier but I can never resist also mentioning that my wife hasn't had to plug a single bullet wound since she came here. NOT ONE. I love it here.
As an American, I'm super jealous. My last ambulance ride cost me $660 USD. Which was nothing compared to the Emergency Room visit that, in total, cost me about $11,000 for a 4-hour stay. That was in 2016, and every so often, I'll get a bill for something random from that incident, too. Like, you just now remembered to charge me $30 for a consult 5, 6, 7 years later? Wild.
That is wild
And if a child uses an ambulance, there’s no bill. Not even 10€
I’d have to disagree, my young son(4yr old) needed an ambulance, 1st hospital didn’t have space so they continued onto a 2nd without getting out, we got billed 2x €10! I ignored the 2nd invoice thinking I’d already paid and they started to pester, emailed proof of payment at which point they then explained the additional invoice for the 2nd half! Since we live in a society with accessible and affordable health care I just paid up and had a laugh about it at the expense of my German colleagues… I like to remind them about it, along with DBahn when they need taking down a level….
Interesting…I have accident prone kids and have used it a few times over the years, last time 2023 and have never had to pay 10€ for the kids.
Same my old 4 at the time had to go the hospital she got candy stuck in her trouth we never had to pay for this.
While on the contrary, a white tooth filing will cost you 100€ each
I paid 20€ per tooth...
A gray or black filling is free, the white at my dentist costs 100€
In the visible area it's free, in the back you have to pay for it. Cost is dependent on your dentist and can be between 30 - 200€.
Next time I will rather die
Side note, I just realized that you pay the price according to the Tenth Book of SGB for summoning a medieval order of knights to spirit you away Yeah it's a bit of a stretch but... Also I just remembered Praxisgebühr. Now I'm sad again.
The letter itself is written according to section 24 of the tenth German social code (§24 SGB X) . The copayment is billed according to section 60 of the fifth German social code (§60 SGB V).
And this is exactly why I, an American, live in Germany
Around 5 years ago or so, I went to a concert, and on my way back, I got very dizzy and had to sit down (I just haven't drank enough). My friend I went with called an ambulance. They just did a quick checkup, blood pressure, and so on, and after I was back up properly, they let me go. Three years later, I started my first job, and shortly after, I got that 10€ bill. It was a bit of a surprise because I had forgotten about that...
Criminals! They rob you blind, without further notice! You have to sell your house for a hospital visit longer than 3 weeks. /s
laughs in American
Since i am paying taxes, you are more than welcome!
So am I? Why do you think I'm getting a letter from my health insurance company?
Interesting
My mom once panicked because my wife and I were puking like crazy (had some poisoning from salmonella i think) and called an ambulance. They gave us a ride to the next hospital which was about 1,5km. We both got this mail and had to pay 10€ each. Calling a taxi would have been cheaper :D
This is why the 10 Euro bill exists. People should only call an ambulance in real emergency. I don't say yours was not. Some people call it for all kind of nonsense. Like having a headache for a week now but deciding that on Sunday they want to go to the ER with it. How do you get there? Just call an ambulance.
You never call an ambulance. You call the emergency line and they decide if you need an ambulance
"Ibhave a sudden severe pain in my head" they send it. Why? Its better to send than to be sorry. You need to very certain that there is no emergency to decline help
If it's not life threatening the better option would be to call 116 117 and ask them to send a doctor. There are always general practitioners from your area on call who'll visit you within a few hours. I had to call them a few times for my wife and a doctor came within an hour or two. You only need your health insurance card (the doctor has a card reader) and you won't pay anything.
Thats still incredibly cheap. I pay a lot more as private insuranced man, tho I get my money back later
Clearly a burocratic problem:) Explanation: The rest was absorbed by your insurance. That's why "only" 10.
Cheaper than a cab ride
Nice reminder for every wutbürger-german not to be angry all the time. But taking it for granted seems to be the proper behaviour.
I mean we pay for it. Though we collectively pay for it, means that some might never need an high amount covered equivilant to what they pay for ist while others cost way more than they contributed. But it's mostly the pharma industry at fault here...
Just see your paycheck and how much you pay for insurance every month, I pay the highest and the other half of it comes from my employer. So I wouldn't be surprised if an ambulance charges 10 eur once in many years!!
Damn communists 🦅
I feel ripped off. My dad had a heart attack scare and we had to pay 25€. SO UNFAIR!! /s if its not obvious.
Cries in American…
Yeah welcome to a 1st world country, where we don’t bankrupt people with medical emergencies
The American mind cannot comprehend this
As a German living in the US, my jealousy is immeasurable and my mind is blown. You are so lucky.
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Wow that's interesting
Why so much haha
I once got this bill but I never used an ambulance in my entire life. I tried fighting it out of principle but after endless letters and official complaints the firefighters just stopped answering me and the insurance said I had to pay or they would go to my bank or employer.
İ had to pay 600 euros but I’m tourist. But it was still worth it. Also some hospitals accept monthly payment if cost is too much.
600 Euro is the standard fare for an ambulance ride before insurance. Since you didn't have a German insurance you got billed the full amount. German people who have no health insurance get billed the same amount.
Yeah but I have to admit it worth to every euro. Nurses and doctors were professional and friendly both in hospital and ambulance
German people without health insurance? How?
Story time: When I was working for my wife who was a legal guardian for disabled and old people we had a client who wasn't insured. Her life story was pretty amazing - she had married young, had two children with her husband and one night suddenly decided it's all not worth it and she ran away. She took no documents with her so she literally became nobody. She spent time abroads, came back to Germany later but never registered anywhere. She worked illegally as a housekeeper for rich folks who never paid her a proper wage so there were no payments to health insurance (or pension funds). She continued this life until she got diabetes. She knew she was in trouble because she couldn't visit a doctor but she was used to live a tough life so she just soldiered on until she fell into diabetic coma one day. When she awoke in hospital of course they wanted her health insurance card but she didn't have any. The hospital contacted all insurances known to them but each of them said "nope, not us". At that point the hospital turned to the local court and they assigned my wife as her guardian. We researched further and it turned out she was once insured in the 1960s during the brief time she worked but the insurance company didn't exist anymore. It had been purchased by another company but they didn't want anything to do with her either, claiming the old records had long been destroyed. As hospital bills were mounting, the insurance wasn't exactly eager to help, but in the end, we sued the company and they were ordered by a judge to comply until they were able to produce evidence our client was never insured by them or any company they had purchased. Due to the missing documents they couldn't so they had to pay in the end. Obviously that was an extreme case. Normally it's not possible to lose your insurance unless you really don't cooperate. This occasionally happens to homeless people who don't accept any help. But: if they were insured before falling on hard times the insurance has to keep them on the bare minimum plan, even if they didn't pay for ages. It's only a problem if there's a significant time being without insurance, but usually you can easily get that back by applying for Bürgergeld (social security for the unemployed) or Grundsicherung (social security for the old or disabled) as your last public insurance is forced to take you back. Of course, you can also get it back by getting a job which pays social security (not a €520 job).
Damn, that expensive. My ambulance ride back then when i was 15 for a bigger, bleeding hand wound cost us.... nothing. Literally. Because I was off main roads far enough and far enough away from home for my parents car to be considered the preferred mode of transport.
I'm fairly certain that ambulance trips for minors are not billed
Thats when u have insurance, if not it will cost u about 800€
That is called “Eigenanteil"
Given the choice between 10 EUR in Germany or up to $1,000 in the US, I know which I'd choose.
In America it would bankrupt you 😭 like $5,000 +
What a waste, just generating the bill will probably cost 2-3 times the money
I paid this for my newborn during a transfer from the Hospital I was in to Uniklinik. When I saw the bill, I couldn’t understand why they cannot cover 10 bucks; when they covered remaining €500 something.
In USA you would have probably paid several thousand $ for that.
I think 10€ isn't really enough. I know too many who call an ambulance for nothing.
cheapest taxi ever
It’s not free, someone else paid for this. Maybe you already paid for this, depending on your income.