American reacts to German Healthcare System Explained 

If a woman has to stay in hospital during childbirth, the €10 per day fee does not apply because pregnancy is not an illness.

Every American seeing this: "oh thats great. why don't we have that here" Americans when a government tries to implement such a system: "COMMUNISM"

As a self-employed person in Germany, you can either stay in the public health insurance (GKV) or sign up for it if you’re just starting out. The premiums are based on your income, so you have to submit proof of income every year. That means your payments can change regularly, and you’ll often have to make back payments if you earned more than you estimated. On the flip side, if you made less, you’ll get some of the money back. Private health insurance (PKV) works differently because the premiums aren’t tied to your yearly income. That’s why a lot of self-employed folks go for it-it offers more predictable payments. You can also set up age reserves to make sure the costs stay manageable when you’re older. Just keep in mind that switching back from private to public insurance can be tricky, so it’s a decision worth thinking through.

One thing the video left out: You can have public health insurance and get additional private insurance for example for hospital related things like being eligible for a single bed room, having the right to be treated and talked to by the chief physician rather than some physician and some other things. Also they cover parts of the dental treatments that are not fully covered by the public health insurance. Additional private insurance comes at a very low cost of 20-50€ depending on your age. But it's worth it sometimes.

The 10 €/day at the hospital are to cover your meals.

One interesting fact to add: you can do public health care + get some extras from private insurance companies. This is possible for anyone who's able and willing to afford the extra.

In 1883, Bismarck ( German Chancellor) created the world's first social universal health system with the Health Insurance Act. This was later adopted by the USA, some Asian and numerous European countries, except of course the British. All countries, except the British with their now broken system, have adapted it to their respective social systems over the years. In the late 1950s, the United States moved away from universal health care and turned it into the system that exists in the USA today.

Some things that were missing in the video: - costs for calling an ambulance and transportation to the hospital are capped at 10€ (but you might have to pay the full costs if the ambulance was not neccessary) - all additional payments (10€ per medication, 10€ per day in hospital, 10€ per ambulance, ...) in a year combined are capped to 2% of your yearly income and is reduced to 1% if you are chronically ill - you can pay that cap in advance for the next year so you don't have to care about any individual payments for that year and if you don't hit that cap in that year you get the remaining money back

what he did not cover is the fact that if you can change to private because you have enough income you can choose to do so only once. If you change to private ensurance you can not go back to the general system anymore. Its that way because the general system would collapse if all the people with good money go out of it when they are young and come back when they are old. So you are stuck if you leave the general system. And if you have good income and you are young its quite expensive in comparison to the private one. I personaly have this kind of luxury problem. I dont want to leave the general system because i dont want to loose the option to be in there because i dont know how long i get the sallery i have now and what happens to the fines in private when i get older. So i pay the max fine to the general system and getting the same out of it like one who is not paying anything. Long waitings for appointments and mass processing in the hospital. I could pay the same to a private ensurance and get 5 star apointments in private areas in hospital and top doctors. But the costs when you are old are pretty hard to calculate.

Love how he totally nailed the pronunciation of "Lohnnebenkosten" 💙

10 Euros at the hospital per day: Germans: That's so much! I don't want to pay that! Americans: THAT'S IT!? 🤣

The statement that you have to wait for months for EVERYTHING health-related is pure nonsense. There are some specialists who are rare, and in these particular cases, it may be true. However, if you need to see a general practitioner, you often don't even need an appointment; you can simply go there and wait. Alternatively, you can call and ask for an appointment, which can often be scheduled for the same day or within a week at most. Especially if there is urgency in your case, nobody lets you die or endure pain. In cases of emergency, you simply call an ambulance. They even say, "Call the ambulance when in doubt; better safe than sorry" (or dead). Additionally, if you have a low income, there is a maximum amount you have to pay in fees, depending on your income level. Once you have paid a certain threshold, you can apply for an exemption with your health insurance, and by law, they cannot deny this, making it a straightforward process as well. This is on a yearly basis, so just collect the bills and hand them in to your insurance with the application and you are done with extra payments for the rest of the year. You get a card from the insurance you can show when anyone asks for extra payment. Also, there was for a while this 10€ "Selbstbeteiligung" for a while when seeing a doctor, but they removed that again because administration of that fee was more expensive then what it returned.

The big difference between the german private insurance and the american system, is that the government will still limit the prices for procedures and drugs the companies can charge, even if it's private insuarance. That's why even uninsured people (of which there theoretically shouldn't be any in germany, since having insurance is mandatory) wouldn't go bancrupt from medical bills. Regarding your question wether you have to do this if you're self employed: No. You can get statutory insurance, but if you meet the criteria, you can opt out of that and get private instead. This can make sense for self-emplyed people because - as your own employer - you'd have to pay both halfs of the statutoray payment (the employees as well as the employers part). Once you opt for private tho, you can't go back to statutory. This is to prevent people from switching back when they get older and need more treatment and taking advantage of a system they didn't pay into when they were healthy.

How to blow an american mind in two words. proportional taxation.

Have I missed something or was the Beitragsbemessungsgrenze (income threshold) not mentioned at all? The 7.3% and your half of the additional contribution only have to be paid up to the income threshold, currently 62,100 euros/year. For every euro you earn more, you do not pay a health insurance fee.

I may be misstaken but it seemed to me that you missunderstood the part about companies being able to turn you away, he was talking about the private ones, and public ones cant turn you away .

But there is a upper limit to the amount of money you pay into the Gesetzliche Krankenkasse. And there is also a minimum payment when you’re not employed and the Arbeitsagentur isn‘t paying for different reasons. You do Private Health Insurance when your „rich“ and payments don‘t bother you because it‘s just a tiny amount of your income. But then you have access to some premium treatments you won‘t get when your in a Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung.

You know what's funny about this stuff? After the Second World War, the USA helped lay the foundations of the modern German welfare state. This included, among other things, support for the reconstruction of social security systems such as pension insurance, unemployment benefits and health insurance, some of which had been severely restricted under the National Socialists. These social security systems remain a central part of German society to this day. While the USA promoted many structures in Germany after the Second World War that were intended to strengthen democracy, workers' rights and social security, some of these structures have become much more established and developed in Germany than in the USA itself. Thx@USA. 👍😁

When you are in the general (public) health care system in Germany (also NHS in the UK, which is, in fact, free care provided), you will end up in a shared room and bath (for two or three people) in hospital. That is different when privately insured (same in the USA; you'll basically get a hospital room to yourself), or when having an additional insurance on top of the general health care one.

Just to add. Once you're in the public healthcare system (through a job or as a student) you may stay in there voluntarily, even if eligible for the private system. But once you elected to be in the private system you're supposed to stay in there, because you left the commity that works through solidarity. (There are ways back through being employed for a small enough salary.)

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="306">5:06</a> - I wouldn't say "company" here, because that implies that it is depending from your employer. But instead the Zusatzbeitrag ("additional fee") is decided by the health insurance provider, which you should compare against each other.

If you use an app to find a doctor, even a specialist, you usually can get an appointment within 1 or 2 days.

I recently destroyed my kneecap while being dumb at home. I had to go to 3 doctors to the xray then to MRI then to therapy for half a year to get everything working again. Now im walking perfectly again knee feels a little weird sometimes but no pain and i paid about 48€ for the therapy (basic transaction fee its not even for the therapy itself) everything else was completely covered by the monthly insurance payments. So going to the hospital or any medical facility is nothing special and wont change your financial situation at all.

I can not take you seriously, when you have a curved eggplant in your logo😂

As a self employed you can also go with the regular health care system. However, you'll have to pay the full 14,5% plus Zusatzbeitrag. When you're just starting out with your company, that's sometimes cost prohibited.

This is very interesting. I'm trying to compare the prices to the prices here in Finland. The prices here are initially a bit higher, but I wonder if it amounts to the same after all the bureaucracy? I'm rounding the numbers here because they are a bit different in different parts of the country and may change every year, but: -One day in hospital initially costs about 45 euros. After a person's total health care costs for the year exceed about 600 euros, it drops down to about 25 euros. -Psychiatric care in hospital is initially 25 euros and drops down to zero after the 600 euro cap. -All long term care is calculated differently, I won't go into that because this is confusing as it is. The "total health care costs for the year" also includes stuff like prescription medication. The state covers 40%-60% so that people don't need to pay it in the first place, but if their total was over 600, they can apply to get refunds in the beginning of the next year (lots of paperwork). But the thing is, if someone really doesn't have any income, the state will end up paying all of this anyways. It just sort of becomes part of that whole thing that the state pays to cover a person's monthly minimum costs of living, which then includes rent and food and whatever. So that it isn't necessarily seen as a health care cost anymore.

But the most important thing, they pay for a lot of checkups. They cover annual screenings for ovarian, breast, prostate and skin cancer (depending on patient's age and gender-phenotype). These kind of checkups pay for themselves because treating early-stage cancer is orders of magnitude cheaper than treating late-stage cancer or palliative care for terminal cancer.

He forgot to mention that your private insurance will lock in your age at the time you join. So, if you jkin at age 25, you'll still pay the insurance premium for a 25 year old even as a retiree. It can only be adjusted for inflation. It's also worth mentioning that public health insurance companies are private, but not for profit, and that management is elected by those insured.

I worked as a qualified nurse in two Catholic German hosputals a a Protestent Old People's home [1991-95] and didn't like it at all! When I was on nights, I was on my own with 35+ patients! They [unlike in the UK] are all in rooms of 1-5 beds and one cannot see into them, so had to keep going round to ensure everyone was alive/not fallen etc. Was also lucky to get help to turn patients as it would mean the other ward having no-one there at all for 20 minutes etc. Also the 'doctors' had too much sway on the wards [unlike here in the UK] and they even did the dressings [which we do in the UK]. Was glad to go back to England! lol

There are two systems in Germany. Public health insurance and private health insurance. Public transport is affordable for many and everyone gets the necessary services. But extras such as treatment by a specific doctor or a single room in the hospital are considered unnecessary luxuries. Then there is private health insurance. This is good for entrepreneurs who will never go bankrupt. The waiting times for an appointment are very short. Single rooms are included in the tariff. The additional contribution increases with age and all medical measures must be paid for in advance by the patient, who can then collect this from the insurance company. There have already been attempts to combine the two systems into one system. But that failed.

🍆 Urologists with humor! I like that! 🤣

If you are self employed you must pay the whole 14.6% instead of the 7.3% as you already guessed. If you want to be part of the public health care system. But those 14.6% are capped at ~800€. So even if you earn more money, you always pay those 800€. As self employed you will hit the maximum quite fast and it can be an issue for people who just started their business. That's the reason why some people choose a private insurance because it is way cheaper the first decades but way more expensive if you get older. It is very difficult to switch from the private insurance to the public one (self-employed person must become an employee) and from the age of 55 it is no longer possible to switch at all. So you cannot save the money as a young person and switch to the public insurance when the private one starts to get expensive.

Now you understand why Europeans laugh at American health care and can‘t comprehend sooo many being against a model more built like the European….

did the guy mention that calling an ambulance costs zero euro, and IF you are held to pay it (bc you called on false alarm (bc you misread symptoms) ), its capped at 35€ ?

We have about three times as many doctors and hospital beds per capita as the USA.

If you have an accident on the way to work, at work or on the way back, the “Berufsgenossenschaft” pays for everything. So it's not the normal health insurance company that's responsible, but basically insurance directly from the employer I had an accident on the way to work, the “Berufsgenossenschaft” paid for everything. To this day, I haven't paid a cent

Not all medicine is covered by insurance, so sometimes you have to pay the full price. But a years supply of Insulin will cost you, depending on your demand, less than 100€

I am employed as a civil servant by the state of Northrine Westfalia and therefore insured 50% by that state and the other 50% I am privately insured (by choice, you don't have to). This means, I get sent all my medical bills, have to pay them myself and then ask the state and my private health care insurance to give me my money back. It is an annoying procedure and sometimes takes months to get your money back. And you don't always know, if they will pay for everything. At the moment, I am 43, relatively healthy (until now). I just recently developed high blood pressure due to stress. I pay about 470 € per months for 50% private health care coverage. If I had 100% coverage, it would be double that price - I guess. On the other hand, I really know what stuff costs. An example: - Hospital stay in July, 5 days (ultrasound of my heart, arteries, inner organs, several blood draws, longtime heart monitoring) - 2800 Euros. I would assume, that in the US, one would pay 5 to 10 times more for these procedures. And of course I got almost all of my money back. I spent less than 60 Euros out of pocket. I'd prefer to have regular (tax funded) health care insurance. It is easie to navigate, you don't have to fill out forms to get your money back, etc.

Long wait times is highly overblown BS. You can have long wait times for non urgent appointments. That's because they leave slots for emergencies in the schedule. I had a few emergencies in recent years and i got appointments within a few hours.

Our Belgian sickness insurance as it was called, is started by the unions for their member who paid for it. Later it was extended to non members, if you paid the contribution. Later it was decided that everybody should have it and the state took it over. They made the contribution part of the taxes and everybody thus paid relevant to their income. The state then paid the sickness funds. So this are no insurance companies but non profit organisations, mostly still connected to the unions. Here we have a big difference with the USA. Our healthcare is not profit driven and they have power over the pharmaceutical companies, doctors and hospitals. If a medication is over-expensive, they will not pay it back, thus no doctor will prescribe it any more. Some leverage I think. So it is for everybody, not free but generally accepted and it works fine. So the main difference to the USA, our healthcare is not commercial, profit driven, thus cheaper.

I'm so glad I live here in Germany cause I'm temporarily a so called "pensioner" cause of my mental illness and needed to go the hospital and I didn't have to pay for anything! 😉🥰

maximum monthly rate for public healthcare is about 1000€ independent from your monthly income above about 5k 🖖

I expected you will notice that Logo earlier.That was the first one i thought wehen the Video has startet😂

I am so mad that he is German but decided to pronounce "Liechtenstein" wrong

The healthcare service is kinda crippling in Germany, shortage of staff, hospitals are designed to make money. Because of that many rural hospitals are closed. Depending on where you are an ambulance needs 15 minutes to you and then 30 minutes to the hospital, which is not good for the golden hour of shock. And many specialized stations are being closed, e.g. stroke units, because less money gets made. In rural counties you see an centralization of hospitals and even cities with around 20k people close because of that

But the Americans argue that they are free and can buy weapons, that is of course Much more important then a functioning Health insurance that everyone can afford. 🤣👍🏻🤭

...there are some myths about the private health insurance. The max. amount of the public health insurance is currently about 1020 Euro. When you are retired, you have to pay about 14,6% health insurance contribution. When you have a good pension, you have to pay this 1020 Euro (as far as I know). And this is about the amount which you are paying when private health insured, too. Ok, as non married person. So, for self employed people with a corresponding pension: Between private or public health insurance is, imho, no big difference (like mentioned above: For a single person). Also because, when you retire, the private health insurance company have to (!!) offer you a tariff which does not cost more than the public tariff. Imho, today there is no need/reason for joining private health insurance anymore. The public health insurance offers you the same "perks" like you have in your private health insurance included, additionally (e.g. dental implants). And if you are married and have kids: It's of course a no brainer.

But once you go private, there is no way back to public.. That's a huge problem with entrepreneurs and self employed people, when they, for what reason ever, eff up their biz. You simply done according to health care.

oh. and one thing more. it is not a tax what we pay its a membership fee. its important because the gov. has no access to this money because its not a tax. the comments about waiting times etc. sounds jealous to me. yes its true, for minor things you have to wait sometimes month but ok for me. urgend things will be taken care of alot faster.

When talking about European versus American taxes, you should always consider that Europeans get more than just a strong military. Taxes pay for our public services and other measurable benefits, like universal healthcare or "free" education at Universities (it's not free, it is just funded by taxes). Americans don't see much return on their taxes and that might be the reason you are always flabbergasted by European tax rates and deem them to high. Less taxes are always nice, no question, but if I have to chose between (seemingly) low taxes and no return or higher taxes and lots of public services? I'd chose the insurance that a developed social net provides. The US has a nominal lower tax rate, but in the end you spend more percent of your gross income on "basic" things like healthcare and education compared to the average European.

He didn’t reunited it - that was much later. He united it.

RU-vid in light mode, the horror!!

Covering homeopathic expenses is crazy, it's not possible for me to understand why they haven't cancelled it yet.

i broke both hands in may and needed an ambulance. last week i got my bill: 10€

UroChan ..the 4chan for urologist :)

why is your greeting always "hello and hello"? is this some insider?

imagine that homeless people in Germany have a better health insurance than the average American. Thats so sad.

And do you loose you insurance if you leave the company you were working for? Getting a new one with a new employer?

yes, freelance and self employed pay all their fees.

How can you see the dislikes?

Well finally an American who understands the word "social" and maybe even did not recognize it.😅 "For some it is not that high". Yes that is the idea behind making it a percentage of the salary 😂 If you do earn not that much, you don't pay that much. But it is capped. So maximum contribution is equal the contribution of about 70k€ a year (what is a pretty good salery in Germany). If you earn more you just have to pay 14.6% of the limit. It the same limit where you can chose between privat hc or the standard hc even if you are not a civil servant or self-employed. Well... em ....at the end, this stupid evil communist socialism!!!!!111 😂

if I may say why this type of healthcare can work in USA. sorry to say this but you have really a lot of bad food there, almost nothing is natural and this brings a lot of health problems to my fellow people in the USA, first all people need to fight to kick that toxic food out of stores... so then this healthcare system cud work pretty good in the USA. People are not guilty if you ask me what food they get in store it is a greedy government and people that dont care about people and they sit on top of the structure, making all these Stupid Laws! European people won't let the government to make these types of toxic laws we fight to kick them out of high spots in government! USA needs 10-15 years of fighting to kick all corruption out of the system and if you can make it as a people to kick majority of corruption out, there will be a better future for People in USA. People are the Pover, not Politicks! People have Power, dont just say it, make it happen!

German healthcare might sound good but ours from Finland is wayyyy better.

I hate the german system. I can't afford a one room apartment but I pay 650€ in health insurance every month plus the additional costs when I dare get sick. I guess It's just because I hate socialism in general...

Du laberst zuviel.

could you do me a favor and dont stop after every 5 seconds a important video with many things explained and speculate about things that will be explained if you just go on with the video. thats really annoying, and it seems to me that you are missing alot with this doing because you dont focus. greetings

i smoke weed for a living