I have Blue Cross for most things and Humana for dental. All of which is to say virtually no coversge at all. I have to pay for everything out of pocket, submit it, and then hear why it isn’t covered. Occasionally, I’ll get a check for $183.69 for $1200 worth of costs. But usually nothing. But when I changed my legal residence to Germany, I was told I only qualified for what is called “Privat” health insurance, which was quoted to me at €30,000, or about $35,000 a year, and that was over 13 years ago. It would be way more now. Since I don’t think I have had $50,000 in health care bills since then, I am WAY ahead of that game.
On the other hand, my wife, a German citizen living in Germany, lost all health insurance when she took early retirement at age 60. I sprang in from age 60 to age 65 with a sort of German version of COBRA. Good thing, too. At age 64, she was diagnosed with a rare “always fatal” form of cancer. Due to a chance extremely early detection, a top expert team of oncologists, and their clinic being coincidentally being in Düsseldorf, she was that “one in ten thousand” that beat it. It usually kills within 6 to 18 months of detection. This year will mark her tenth year of being cancer-free. Her COBRA-like coverage covered everything, so, the €550 per month was well worth the cost. At 65, her German version of Medicare kicked in, and, as opposed to ours, it covers practically everything. No part A, B, C, D, X, Y, Z or any of the letters Dr. Seuss covered in “On Beyond Zebra.” Had I not bought her coverage, we would have been on the hook for for well into six figures in costs. The “everything is free in Europe” line is a myth, and there is no universal coverage in Germany. There are always hundreds of thousands of people with no coverage at all. As a German social worker, my wife worked with many of them.
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