User:NoMana

Health Insurance - Germany

1. Explanation of the german health care system

In Germany health insurance is mandatory. While being one of the better healt care systems compared to many other countries there are still a lot of problems and injustices. First we need to differentiate between a private insurance and the statutory health insurance. To make it as simple as possible:

Private insurance: You make an individual contract with a private health insurance company. You pay your doctor, your medicine etc. by yourself, get the receipt and send a copy to your insurance so they can give you a refund.

Statutory health insurance: Generally you don't pay for treatments. The billing is handled between your statutory health insurance company and the other party like your doctor. There are exceptions to this rule, but this is the baseline.

The following paragraphs refer only to the statutory health insurances.

As a working person you and your employer are paying for the statutory health insurance, there is a percentage, that will be automatically subtracted from your loan.

While treatmants are generally free, especially for pharmaceuticals there is a fee you have to pay. You have to pay 10% of the original price of the medicine, but at least 5€ and at most 10€ per prescribed medicine.

Thought up example:

amount	prescription	price per package	price total	fee (what you actually have to pay)
2x	Bisoprolol 5mg 100pc.	15,20€	30,40€	10,00€
1x	Prednisolon 10mg 50pc.	75,80€	75,80€	7,58€
1x	Rivaroxaban 10mg 100pc.	238,02€	238,02€	10€

In special circumstances you can get a reimbursement for the fees you payed. To get this money back you'll have to submit an application. You are elligible for a reimbursement if: