Last edited Fri Sep 22, 2017, 06:10 PM - Edit history (1)
I moved here permanently (Düsseldorf area) in 2011. I kept my US Blue Cross just in case, but they tend to deny every charge incurred outside the USA. So my wife, a German social worker, checked out my possibilities here. Since my employer was still in the USA, the only possibility was with one of a few German insurers that handled my kind of case. I went there, explained my situation, and they asked me if I had any pre-existing conditions. I said yes, heart issues, and gave them details. They said they'd get back to me with a quote, which they did: €2500 a month, or €30,000 a year, which is about $36,000 at today's rates. It was more then, as the dollar was weaker at the time.
Health care in Germany is run by a complicated patchwork of insurance companies that cater to various kinds of people. The government takes over (supposedly) for retirees, although my wife hit 65 in June, and though she submitted her paperwork right away, we're still waiting. Most of these companies are non-profit "Kassen," which get their money from employer and employee contributions which are collected off of gross salary. It's different, depending on what kind of employee (private, public, etc.), and there is also "private" insurance, which means you pay up front and the insurance company is supposed to reimburse you afterward if your procedure is covered. If not, you're out of luck (and pocket). The advantage to being "privat" is that you get first class treatment at the doctor's office (go to the front of the line, priority for appointments, single bed room at the hospital, etc.) instead of tourist class (wait at the doctor, appointments in a few months, if they think there is an opening). At any time, there are a few hundred thousand citizens who fall through the cracks and have no health insurance at all.
At 60 years old, my wife had a serious thyroid operation, and was (along with other women at her workplace) the victim of mobbing. She made a deal with her employer, and took early retirement. As soon as her salaried time ran out, I had to pick up the bill for her medical insurance (€700 a month, or about $840 at today's rates). She got a rare, and usually fatal form of cancer about a year ago, and found a specialist surgeon who waived the waiting period for her class (2nd) of patient due to the urgency. She lucked out, as she was that one in a thousand who discovered her cancer incredibly early. Her kind of cancer was called "Der Mörder," or "The Murderer," since it is usually only discovered too late. This was her second time with cancer. The surgeon said he usually recommended chemo and radiation, but said this was that one case in a thousand where he recommended against it, as he though it would do more harm than good. The 80 or so biopsies they did were, amazingly, ALL negative. So in her case, the €700 a month paid off. Her 3 and a half weeks in the hospital plus operation plus biopsies plus the rest would have wiped us out otherwise, even though the cost here would have been about a third of what it would have been in the States.
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