sc94597 said:
Wow, I didn't realize German premiums went that high. Even here in the U.S, 1.000 euros ($1,070) per month is very steep for what I am assuming is individual coverage. That is pretty much the monthly per capita spending on healthcare (including all costs) with no subsidies in the U.S (which is double what it is in the rest of the developed world), but most people get some form of subsidies (employer, medicare, medicaid, or ACA.) The average family coverage is about $1,100 per month to put things in perspective. My roommate is self-employed and he pays about $250 /month (after subsidies, government pays $400 /month) for a $1,500 deductible plan with a yearly out-of-pocket maximum of $5,000. I get fully employer-subsidized premiums currently, but in my previous job I paid about $180 /month (employer paid $360 /month) for a $750 deductible plan with a $2000 out-of-pocket maximum. Before that I was on Medicaid my whole life, and that only had trivial $1-$5 per service copays. No other cost-sharing. I generally look at the German model as a model the U.S could very easily transition to for universal healthcare, but I am now wondering if single-payer/medicare-for-all makes more sense anyway despite the political obstacles and difficulty of transitioning. |
OdinHades already explained it a little but I want to expand on that.
If you take the German median salary of 44,074 Euro (see OP), you would need to pay roughly 292 Euro a month for health insurance.
The employer will pay an additional 292 Euro.
The public insurance will thus receive 584 Euro. If you earn 58.050 Euro a year, you reached a limit where the public insurance receives no more than 769.16 Euro. So if you're employed, the maximum you can pay for health insurance is 384.58 Euro a month.
A freelancer has to pay the employer fee as well.
It doesn't matter if or how many children you have. All of them are automatically covered at no extra cost. If your wife does not work or earns less than 5,400 Euro a year, she's included as well.
With that you're all set and the public insurance will pay everything from the first Euro cent. You only have to pay 5 Euro - 10 Euro for every prescription drug, 10 Euro for every day spent in a hospital (280 Euro max a year) and for anything fancy that is not considered basic healthcare.
Last edited by Barozi - on 08 July 2022
