Germany is actually quite a pleasant country to live in. If you can ignore the labyrinths of bureaucracies you’ve got to thread pass before accomplishing anything that has a teensy bit to do with the law, or if you can afford to give up almost half of your paycheck for tax, social and health insurance, or even if you can pretend that the Germans do really have a great sense of humor, then Germany is really an ideal place for you to carve a niche for your life here.

What’s not to like this country, when its people are nice, friendly and polite. When you are jobless, you’ll still get paid a decent amount of money by the government, enough to sustain the basic needs of life. Well, life is all rosy when you’re healthy and you’d better stay that way as long as you can help it because the health care system here is one real mammoth of complicated system.

There are generally two types of health insurance here, either you have a compulsory health insurance, that is required by the law, or you choose to have a private health insurance, that is, if your monthly income exceeds a certain amount so that you can afford it.

The difference between them is very distinct and sometimes I think it’s like those having compulsory health insurance are shoved to one side and those with private health insurance are ALWAYS given the priority and the choice to choose, no matter who comes first. It’s like health care practitioners here literally flaunt their unfair practice blatantly in your face. It’s because doctors here are paid by these insurance companies and they can sort of ‘demand their price’ from these insurance companies for patients who are privately insured. You see what I mean?

It doesn’t matter to the dermatologists if you suddenly develop some rashes on your skin out of no reason and you gotta have an appointment immediately or else you won’t get a correct diagnosis.
It doesn’t matter to the orthopedics if you accidentally have a slipped disk and you can’t sleep nor can’t do anything at all because your back is hurting so much.
It doesn’t matter to the dentists if your toothache is driving you crazy and causing you sleepless nights.

If you are not privately insured, chances are you’ll only get an appointment in a few weeks’ time! If you are lucky enough, maybe in a week or two. Well, if you are privately insured, you can even come straight away or in a few hours, not days! Even the tone of the receptionist takes on a friendlier and nicer tone.

That’s the health care system in Germany for you.