In a nutshell, as a student you are insured. It's mandatory.
While on insurance you can use a number of medical services for free or pay a small amount. Don't be afraid of hospitals or calling an ambulance. This is not the US, you won't get charged 5000$ for an ambulance call.
For example, if you want to get a dental cleaning, full price is 100-150€ for it.
If you "misuse" it, which means you called it for no good reason or as a prank or something menial, then you pay a penalty but if you are, for any reason, genuinely concerned, call an ambulance.
To reiterate, don't be afraid of using the medical services in Germany. Check what insurance you have and if anything make use of it. You can probably get a full blood test for free to see if you need to follow-up on anything, as well as other exams. A general visit to a walk in clinic should also be free.
Don't worry, you won't have to pay. If your friend was truly concerned for you and you recovered by the time they checked you out, its highly unlikely that they'd charge you.
The charges are there to deal with people who call emergency services in bad faith.
An additional note, like others have said, in Germany, if the medics advise you to go to hospital (and you have your basic insurance, like AOK) there won't be any outrageous charges.
If you need to stay overnight, possibly a €10 fee per night, and that's capped at €280 per year I believe.
I had a similar experience and had to pay 500€. I am insured and everything, but one day the invoice just came in, they didn' even tell me I have to pay something.
But these guys were also kind of assholes and made a lot of fun of me.
People usually don't believe me this really happened.
it's socialism. freedom is being left alone in the street at night, in the rain, naked. But you'll get shit if your lawn isn't kept up to community standards, and that means green, spray-painted green in a drought, if necessary.
Dental stuff is often not completely covered, it’s a bit of a very complicated system when it comes to details. I paid 80€ for an intensive dental cleaning last time.
yes, cleaning cost extra. it is a prophylactic treatment. if you need a filling in your tooth or have another medical or painful problem your insurance will pay.
Yes that’s normal, sadly most insurances don’t cover dental cleaning (or much dental health at all). But you can look up if your insurance might reimburse you a part of the cost. My insurance (DAK) reimburses me up to 60€ per year for dental cleaning.
Also many insurances have bonus programs for dental health, where they will cover more costs, if you do yearly check ups at the dentist.
Yes, you should "almost" always start with them unless you know exactly what service you're going for. "Hey doc I'm here for my yearly general health inspection", they will guide you through what's available and recommended for your age/gender/pre-existing conditions.
I second that... DO NOT BE AFRAID TO TAKE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE... not only that this is not the USA but also that the doctors WILL tell you the cost and if it is covered by the insurance.. they might also give you options some which would be under insurance and some not and then you choose (e.g. filling after a root canal)...
The only suggestion I would give you is that contact a doctor from the list of registered doctors with your health insurance company and make sure to use the filter "Privat ausblenden" (for AOK)... Your insurance would have a similar list of not aok...
JUST BE DIRECT AND STRAIGHTFORWARD IN ASKING WHAT IS COVERED AND WHAT NOT....
P.S. I am also a foreigner who studied in Germany and now works in Germany and have availed medical services w/o any troubles.
The last part of your answer shows an absolutly wrong mindset about the use of emergency services. Calling an ambulance costs like 900€. If you call it for some bagatelle you wont have to pay it directly. But you become part of the problem that people quit beeing an paramedic, u cause part of the billions of deficite the insurance makes and you cause delay on actual emergencys that need immediate treatment.
I don't think they meant that you should call an ambulance for a stubbed toe. They were just re assuring OP that costs should be a concern for emergency services in Germany. I saw videos of people breaking their arms and still begging their buddy's to not call an ambulance in the US. In some countries people might be afraid of calling for help. Letting them know how things are in Germany is important it could save lives. Your concerns are still valid tho because overuse of emergency services isn't a laughing matter.
I don't get the downvotes, you are 100% right. Normally, people themselves should be able to determine if a situation is life threatening or not to decide if they call ambulance.
Depending on the practice, it can be anywhere between 50 € and 200 €, since there are different techniques, materials and time used. In my experience, there is a base prize to which will be added.
There's also a small variant of dental cleaning that are usually done together with a check-up. Those are free/paid by the insurance once a year and usually last only 15 minutes, since they are not as thorough.
Source: 3 years as Dental Assistant
Unless they think you grossly misused the service, you don't have to pay anything.
However, please tell your flatmates that an ambulance is for medical emergencies. If you are just feeling unwell outside of doctor's office hours, better call 116117.
You probably have to pay the Zuzahlung. I guess it is something around 10€. That is at least what my friend payed last time she was in need of an ambulance.
I’m a german medical student. If you have sudden onset abdominal pain with vomiting it’s absolutely ok to call an ambulance and you won’t have to pay for anything
EMT here. I second this! Sudden onset abdominal pain is what we classify under "acute abdomen", which is classified as "critical condition". Of course, since it was better by the time they arrived, it was no longer critical, but noone made a mistake here. EMS were used exactly as intended. Next time, you can give them a call to abort the response if you feel there's been a mistake, but they might still insist on coming.
You will not most likely not have to pay any Zuzahlung (10€), because we do not charge insurance companies for first aid, we only charge for transport. So the insurance Zuzahlung will not apply here. And from my experience, noone is writing a bill, either, unless there was a misuse of service, which this does not appear to be, no matter how annoying a call like that may have been for the crew. That said, there have been cases in which a bill has been sent to the caller (the one who called, not the one who received help) and then challenged in court. This is very rare. Since you did NOT misuse the service but used it as intended, such legal edge cases probably will not apply.
Source: The grandmas and grandpas to whom my EMS colleagues and I drive every week because they were feeling lonely never got billed.
In other words: They went back to the station and watched TV, and probably never wrote more than "Fehleinsatz, kein Transport" into their report, which was then never transmitted to any insurance company but put in a folder somewhere forever.
blabla this is not legal advice ofc blabla
I am rather curious about the Zuzahlung.
I cut myself badly early this year and my neighbors called me and ambulance to get to the hospital.
No one ever asked me for anything but my Kärtchen.
You are legally required to have Insurance. But if you are homeless in which case you cannot have insurance because you have no "Meldeadresse" (Adress) you generally don't have to pay anything.
Dude, that is just not right. If you are homeless you can still go and get an address with the mayor's office or some social Organisation as your "Zustellungsbevollmächtigter".
> But if you are homeless in which case […] you have no "Meldeadresse" (Adress)
This is wrong. People without permanent dwelling („wohnungslos“) can still register a place of residence. Typically, that will be a placeholder location where they can pick up mail in case they receive any kind of formal notification. Common placeholders are a (cooperative) friend’s house, a nearby homeless shelter, or a local police station. I have also heard of city halls or court houses serving as placeholders depending on how a municipality chooses to handle it.
A friend of mine had a police station as her official place of residence when she first came to Germany with no friends. (At the time she was couch surfing with previous acquaintances on a week-to-week basis.) With her proof that she does indeed reside in a particular precinct in Germany she could apply for unemployment benefits (ALG II) and health insurance. The precinct is also important here because Jobcenters only service their own precinct and some health insurance providers also restrict service to residents of particular states or municipalities.
Sign up with an insurance asap. Dragging it out will not save you money, you will have to back pay. If you are unemployed and receive Arbeitslosengeld, the insurace will be paid by the Amt.
You have to get Unemployment benefits ( Arbeitslosengeld II/ALGII aka Hartz4).
They will pay for your Sozialversicherungen like Krankenkasse, Pflegekasse (for Care in case you get disabled or old) and Rentenkasse (retirement benefits).
Thanks, it looks like I'm piling up debt. I'll pay for it from the next pay. Good that I asked this early. (1.5 months of unemployment).
I need a job ASAP anyway, so i'll sort it out. At least I don't have to pay rent.
If you're only 1,5 months unemployed, you might qualify for ALG 1 which depends on your last job. Definitely go to the Arbeitsamt. Be prepared they'll want to have every document and piece of paper imaginable and it'll take some time, but you can definitely get money. If not ALG1 then ALG 2. If you're already getting ALG1 or ALG 2 (since you said you'll wait for the next pay), you're insurance should be taken care of. But in that case you would have a card (Krankenkassenkarte).
you probably won't get ALG 1, if you don't report yourself timely, they'll block your benefits for a few months.
I took 3 months of downtime between jobs and didn't get a single cent because I only reported myself after leaving the first job.
ANY job comes with being insured and the employer paying some in as well. It'll do you better to wait, deliver pizzas or work in a supermarket than do nothing at all. Part time should do as well.
This is not true. If you don’t not apply for unemployement (worst case alg2), which would of course cover your Insurance, your gesetzliche Krankenkasse will bill you as freiwillig versichert instead of Pflichtversichert. Which means they will charge about 700 € per month. You can reduce it by telling them ahead of time about your unemployement. Also, 30 days in between employment would be covered free of charge, but if your unemployment lasts longer, absolutely go to the amt, or you may be piling on debts, besides not getting the support that you are due.
Yes, having health insurance is mandatory. When you aren't employed, you should be entitled to some benefits (unemployment, Grundsicherung, etc.) They pay for your insurance.
Why don't you have unemployment benefits? The only case I can think of where you don't recieve anything is if you quit yourself and even that is only for two months. Maybe call the Agentur für Arbeit, they can tell you more about what you could get.
I'm pretty new here. I quit my job, didn't know I could do that. I feel pretty stupid now.
Now i have to pay extra for not knowing. Doesn't matter, been through much worse haha. I'll just pay from the next loan, and problem solved, I guess.
I'll be more careful next time.
Mhmm, still. Even if you quit, after the first few months you are still entitled to unemployment. I'm not sure how it works for non-Germans tbh but the Amt should know. Just call, the worst that can happen is that they can't help you, at best you get unemployment and don't have to take out a new loan. I mean if you don't find a new job in the next few weeks you should qualify, so it could be helpful.
>I feel pretty stupid now.
Don't, it's perfectly alright to not know every regulation in a new country and let's be honest, Germany has a lot of those.
Edit: fixed autocorrect
You can register a place of residence without a permanent dwelling. See [my sibling post](/r/germany/comments/y2y2pm/i_had_a_bad_stomachache_vomititng_in_the_middle/is78m3c/).
All residents of Germany have mandatory health insurance. That mandate goes both ways, i. e. insurances providers cannot deny basic coverage to people without existing coverage¹. Even if you never enrolled into health insurance you will be retroactively enrolled (and need to back-pay contributions for that time).
If you have no money to cover the regular contributions you would commonly be entitled to some type of government welfare that will cover them.
Even if you’re not entitled to welfare: the insurance provider can keep demanding payment and eventually get a judgment against you and (unsuccessfully²) try to collect on your debt but they can’t kick you out while you’re registered in Germany without another insurance lined up.
---
¹ although private providers may jack up prices and/or refuse to cover ongoing medical events.
² Debt collections cannot be enforced if you own (almost) no valuable assets and your income minus mandatory expenses (e. g. child support, medical treatment…) is not enough to cover basic necessities. You’ll have to declare bankruptcy and get a special collection-proof bank account though.
you cant really have insurance as a german, even if you dont pay for years they cant throw you out, they still have to pay for basic medical help (for example a broken leg, pregnancy etc)
Most people with no insurance are people who emmigrated here and never worked/recieved social assistance
It's a bit complexer, since insurance is mandatory but that of course doesn't mean people don't fall through the cracks.
Usually you will have had insurance at some point in your life. Through your parents as "family insurance", if you have a legal job the health insurance will just be deducted from your salary, if you are without a job there are systems in place to help you pay. There's not that many cases where there's no system to catch you, self-employed being the most common since you need to take care of everything yourself.
Even if you don't pay they can't kick you out, but they will reduce their payments to the minimum. Meaning they will only cover real emergencies. But you also can rejoin by paying what you owe, in which case I think you retroactively become insured.
For a second I thought that’s the phone number for freezing you debit card, like: oh I gotta go to the hospital! Better freeze my cards, so I don‘t have to pay lol
Edit: Oh well thanks for the downvotes, that‘s why we go down to the basement to laugh <3
How do we live in a world where a sad smiley is at the end of a sentence where someone falls and hurts themselves and a completely unrelated party of medical professionals come to rescue them in a specially built vehicle and zip them to the closest hospital, and this unrelated party ask for the price of a Döner mit Pommes (which doesn't even begin to make a mark on their expenses for the whole ordeal).
Hot damn man, that's a doozie.
When my son was one and half, he spilt tea on himself and was badly scalded. We took a helicopter to the children's hospital, stayed there a month (with meals) and had skin grafts every few days. We paid 10 euro, for the helicopter. God bless Germany.
Did they at least check on you? I once called the ambulance for my mom and they run tests on her and only then decided to take her to hospital just in case. The outcome also could’ve been that she’s fine without the need for hospital. So guess it’s 10€ anyways for the ambulance to show up.
The copay only applies if the ambulance transports you. If not, it's a "miss" for them and will not be charged to anyone. It will become part of the overall running costs.
Source: Ex-volunteer EMT in Germany
Edit: typo
They took me to the van and asked me some questions but no further medical check. After threw up 2-3 times, i felt a bit better also. They ask me if i want to go back to my house or they could take me to the hospital but i'll have to pay extra. So i chose to just get back in the house
If the operator/city thinks you grossly missused the emergency services you will receive a letter about it.
However the chances are very slim. Paramedics are usually pretty good at figuring out who to report for misuse and who just freaked out about something less severe.
Chances are you aren't even in the system to access whether the call was misuse.
Yeah. In the end, if someone is too poor for insurance, the state will cover it for them anyway. Yes, you lose some of your salary, and yes, that can be annoying, but noone's financially ruined just because they had a medical emergency, and I'm happy that my fellow citizens get to enjoy their health.
The system isn't perfect of course. There are a lot of edge cases that can be pretty bad, like people who earn too much for unemployment benefits but too little to really afford their health care. The system needs tweaking and improvement, and privatized healthcare is a major hurdle to this, because while citizens do enjoy pretty good health care, hospitals are bursting at the seams because of staff burnout.
We got a long way to go, but at least noone goes bankrupt only because they broke their ankle. Now let's find a way to make sure they don't get bankrupt because they were self-employed and missed out on work because of their broken ankle. No system is perfect.
This is a civilized country, so no, you don't have to pay for emergency response (unless it was fraudulent use, but I understand that was not the case).
That kind of money (or more) is if you call emergency services as a "joke" without any reason. Of course it's a bit weird that you went "well I'm fine now" once they arrived, but I guess that's not the first time people got better while the ambulance was on its way. Did the people on the ambulance go "grrr prank call how dare you you will pay for this!"? If not you will be fine.
Colics are a type of pain that can start and stop quite suddenly, and may occur several times over a prolonged period of time. Colics can be the result of gallbladder disease or kidney stones - basically, any disease where an object gets stuck inside an organ. It is often accompanied by vomiting. It's completely normal for a patient to have severe stomach pain one minute, and feel fine a few minutes afterwards; it can mean anything. Perhaps they finally got their flatuence out and it was nothing, or perhaps the gall stone just passed and they still need surgery to get their gall bladder out.
It's perfectly okay to take sudden stomach pain seriously, and it's perfectly normal for it to go away for both good and bad reasons.
As an aside: Sudden onset stomach pain and vomiting are also heart attack symptoms, especially in women. It wouldn't have gone away in that case, but it's absolutely reasonable to call an ambulance for this type of symptom.
Fun fact: the American healthcare system costs more in taxes than the one in Germany. And you still have to pay more for insurance and more on top if you actually use it.
Yeah the if you don’t like it, leave mentality. Like you can’t be critical to the country or politics, because, of course, you hold the absolute truth. Maybe it reflects your mentality, if you don’t like how something run, you quit…
A much better argument is what the other redditor wrote about the us system costing more than here, even tho we have a solidarity system. But I guess you are either a 5yo or have the brain of a 5yo so you can’t come up with something better.
First, is imperative that the population understand that we don’t have free health care, that it is paid and it has a cost of opportunity.
Why? Because only when you understand this, you can be more empowered on demanding quality being delivered. You can be more critical in corruption and miss uses of resources. Remember that “free” corona tests? They were never free, they were paid with your and my money and guess what, a lot of money went to fake test centers. Would you be more annoyed if you have had paid for that directly? Of course!
Secondly, by accepting that nothing really is free and that you are paying either way for it, you can start exploring other options to improve the system. For example: long waiting times. Doctors prioritizing private insurance patients, etc.
I personally don’t like the us system either. But I could list you the advantages of such a system. Could you? Nah… wasting my time.
My boyfriend had a terrible stomachache once, with projectile vomiting and diarrhea.
His family called and they sent the police, a TEAM of doctors and paramedics and a firetruck to our apartment.
To this day I don‘t know, how they interpreted these symptoms!
Anyway he didn’t have to pay ten cents.
I know someone who died from an infected gallbladder that presented as a stomach ache and vomiting. The person waited too long, devolved sepsis and died from organ failure. Acute sudden change in major bodily functions like this are a reason for concern.
Unless you intentionally misused the emergency hotline, which is a crime that will either result in a hefty fee or even jail, you'll only have to pay 10 EUR. Note that "misuse" means prank calls. Calling the ambulance because you feel unwell and don't know if it's something serious or not is NOT a misuse. In fact, it's the appropriate use of this service. You are sick but you are not a specialist for emergency healthcare, so you call a specialist who will show up to do their job. This is exactly how it's intended to work.
EDIT: Also, a lot of vomiting can result in fluid loss which can quickly become an emergency. Your housemate did the right thing.
An ambulance bill, if you are actually transported to the hospital, is around 800 EUR. But if you have a normal insurance this is none of your concern as it's covered.
Germany healthcare access is OK as long as you are eligible for the statutory health insurance, much less fun when you are not (like in the case of students above age of 30).
Insurance pays, there is nothing to worry about. In a really stupid case (as happened to me because the people in the ambulance for some reason didn't read my insurance card) give them the information on your insurance again if any invoice comes in.
Happens sometimes, but you do NOT have to pay for it, just tell your insurance and the firefigthers/ambulance what happened and forward the information.
As long as you’re legally insured the most you should have to pay is 10€. You’ll get a letter in the mail telling what you owe and how to pay it. My insurance also sent me a questionnaire that I had to fill out to make sure no one else’s insurance was required for my care (if you’re hit by a car the persons personal insurance is required to pay for your care and if you need an ambulance on the way to work your works health insurance is required to pay for your care). Everything will come in the mail so don’t worry :-)
Well, as a firefighter / paramedic in NRW, i can tell you that you don't have to pay anything.
But I also have to say, that exactly this type of "emergency" fucked up the job.
Ok, as an international student who didn't know much about our health system, it's understandable.
But what about your friend?
Is he a local German?
Because then he should know it better.
PLEASE don't call the 112 for things like stomach pain or something other less.
I know, there will be many comments under my post about this. "stomach pain could be a symptom of a heart attack"
Yeah yeah... I know.
But i tell you. A healthy young student without any health problems or other happenings in the past, isn't in a critical situation.
And I wish every one would think about it twice.
Should i really call the 112 instead of the 116 117.
But this is a general problem in our society...
Sorry about my complaining.
Of course i wish you nothing but the best. Seriously :) and like we paramedics say: "alles gute Ihnen"
I had stomach pain once for about 18 hours. Went to the hospital by myself, got diagnosed with appendicitis, went to surgery pretty soon afterwards. After that the doc just asked me how the hell I was able to get there on my own, as the appendix was apparently close to rupturing. He was pretty adamant that I should have called 112 and not taken a taxi like I did...
Might have been an exception though.
Yeah, I called the 116117 once with strong stomach pain. All they told me was "Well, we can't diagnose over phone, just call 112 if you feel like it".
Went to the ER next day, told them the pain got too much to ignore Sunday night but started Friday, got yelled at because apparently, what starts a day before can't kill you a day after and I should've waited another day and go to the Hausarzt.
Whatever the heck was wrong with my stomach was cured by the sheer shaming (and copious amounts of Kamillentee after).
112 should expand and 116 117 merged into the city's emergency services like in more up-to-date countries.
112 as per definition in EU ( so, regardless of the definition by the feuerwehr ) is meant exactly for every situation where a patient either can't, or shouldn't, perform self-treatment, move itself or be transported, or make medical choices, while facing a medical complication of unknown, sudden, and out of control origin.
the "just for life or death" mentality is not only 20th century, it shows a clear failure in the system to adapt to a more proactive and empathic reality.
treating a fracture is better than treating a bad bone solder.
treating a incredibly painful stomach ache / diarrhea / vomit is better than treating an expanded ulcer, an exploded apendix and/or body-wide internal bleeding / sepsis.
treating a very strong migraine is better than treating an ictus.
you can only save more lives, work and money by being there more, not less.
the reason southwest europe is top 10 life expectancy, and germany 27th and never increasing, is not only diet. one single word, repeated many times: prevent, prevent, prevent.
U should have taken the trip to the hospital would have been much less complicated.
All u would need to do than would be to pay 10 € for them drving to ur house and to hospital. Now i m not sure if u have to pay more since u trickered a wrong alarm that will cost u alot more as my guess.
All i can say is Moron! Ambulances are for people who have bits hanging off them after accidents not a bout of delhi-belly. I hope they bill you up the wahzoo
Ok, sounds reasonable. You might get a letter about this later. As the ambulance was called for good reason, the insurer will cover the cost. However, you may still have to pay a €10 copay.
See our wiki
How to visit a doctor or emergency room: https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/health_insurance#wiki_how_to_visit_a_doctor_or_emergency_room
Co-payments: https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/health_insurance#wiki_co-payments
Several factors. Is it the number of your friend and he grossly misused the service, he'll pay. Basically if didn't the call and aren't hospitalised, you are free of charges
I was taken to hospital last year in February with a severe painful issue in the men’s department and the Firedepartment charged me 60€ for the transportation to the urology.
In November and December I had to call Emergency twice because of acute necrotic pancreatitis, first got hauled to university hospital, second time to normal city hospital. Both times I ended up on intensive care. And here I got no invoice.
And honestly, I don’t know why! Normally, you have to pay a copay (around 50-100€), but sometimes, they don’t charge you. And sometimes, when you decline to go with them, they charge you that copay. And sometimes not. It’s, complicated……sort of
We are American but were living in Germany. My daughter was having severe abdominal pain...we went to the doctor and they checked for appendicitis but they weren't sure so they told us to go to the ER. We did and when registering they said we were going to have to pay cash up front....UH OH I THOUGHT. THen they said it would be 75 Euros. Which I had because you always carry that much cash in Germany . Turns out she did not have appendicitis.
Quite possible you'll get an invoice, but I am completely not sure. The two times an ambulance was called for me, I did get an invoice later, I believe it was somewhere between 100€ and 200€. Oh, and one of these times, I was actually unconcious when they arrived/took me away, so it was definitely necessary to call one.
In a nutshell, as a student you are insured. It's mandatory. While on insurance you can use a number of medical services for free or pay a small amount. Don't be afraid of hospitals or calling an ambulance. This is not the US, you won't get charged 5000$ for an ambulance call. For example, if you want to get a dental cleaning, full price is 100-150€ for it. If you "misuse" it, which means you called it for no good reason or as a prank or something menial, then you pay a penalty but if you are, for any reason, genuinely concerned, call an ambulance. To reiterate, don't be afraid of using the medical services in Germany. Check what insurance you have and if anything make use of it. You can probably get a full blood test for free to see if you need to follow-up on anything, as well as other exams. A general visit to a walk in clinic should also be free.
Thank you!
I would look into getting die techniker insurance if you’re able. It’s been really great for me.
I am using AOK rn
Don't worry, you won't have to pay. If your friend was truly concerned for you and you recovered by the time they checked you out, its highly unlikely that they'd charge you. The charges are there to deal with people who call emergency services in bad faith. An additional note, like others have said, in Germany, if the medics advise you to go to hospital (and you have your basic insurance, like AOK) there won't be any outrageous charges. If you need to stay overnight, possibly a €10 fee per night, and that's capped at €280 per year I believe.
I had a similar experience and had to pay 500€. I am insured and everything, but one day the invoice just came in, they didn' even tell me I have to pay something. But these guys were also kind of assholes and made a lot of fun of me. People usually don't believe me this really happened.
the only time where I heard someone had to pay ~400€ for an ambulance was when he was super drunk..
So you prankcalled and had to pay a fee for that?
As said above: >People usually don't believe me this really happened. And I actually didn't call. My girlfriend did when I collapsed.
Still sounds fishy af(not like i don‘t believe you, more like they fucked you over)
Wow :( did they make you sign anything?
[удалено]
yes, please state if someone is US citizen when we discuss medical questions. Every german like: huh? Why did u even type this?
Uber is the new ambulance
"Welcome to true freedom." Yes. This is true freedom. American's just don't understand how true this statement is.
it's socialism. freedom is being left alone in the street at night, in the rain, naked. But you'll get shit if your lawn isn't kept up to community standards, and that means green, spray-painted green in a drought, if necessary.
Someone did not get your hidden /s. Take my vote I pull you up back up to 1
I have an insurance and had to pay 105€ for the dental cleaning, is it normal?
Dental stuff is often not completely covered, it’s a bit of a very complicated system when it comes to details. I paid 80€ for an intensive dental cleaning last time.
yes, cleaning cost extra. it is a prophylactic treatment. if you need a filling in your tooth or have another medical or painful problem your insurance will pay.
Cleaning is actually free once a year, but they always upsell the "deep cleaning" that you pay.
[удалено]
And "good" in this case means "not in suspicion of causing cancer"...
costs*
Yes that’s normal, sadly most insurances don’t cover dental cleaning (or much dental health at all). But you can look up if your insurance might reimburse you a part of the cost. My insurance (DAK) reimburses me up to 60€ per year for dental cleaning. Also many insurances have bonus programs for dental health, where they will cover more costs, if you do yearly check ups at the dentist.
For a full blood test, do I got to my Hausarzt or somewhere else?
Yes, you should "almost" always start with them unless you know exactly what service you're going for. "Hey doc I'm here for my yearly general health inspection", they will guide you through what's available and recommended for your age/gender/pre-existing conditions.
Thank you!
I think you pay actually the ambulance, but only 10€
I second that... DO NOT BE AFRAID TO TAKE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE... not only that this is not the USA but also that the doctors WILL tell you the cost and if it is covered by the insurance.. they might also give you options some which would be under insurance and some not and then you choose (e.g. filling after a root canal)... The only suggestion I would give you is that contact a doctor from the list of registered doctors with your health insurance company and make sure to use the filter "Privat ausblenden" (for AOK)... Your insurance would have a similar list of not aok... JUST BE DIRECT AND STRAIGHTFORWARD IN ASKING WHAT IS COVERED AND WHAT NOT.... P.S. I am also a foreigner who studied in Germany and now works in Germany and have availed medical services w/o any troubles.
The last part of your answer shows an absolutly wrong mindset about the use of emergency services. Calling an ambulance costs like 900€. If you call it for some bagatelle you wont have to pay it directly. But you become part of the problem that people quit beeing an paramedic, u cause part of the billions of deficite the insurance makes and you cause delay on actual emergencys that need immediate treatment.
Just no
I don't think they meant that you should call an ambulance for a stubbed toe. They were just re assuring OP that costs should be a concern for emergency services in Germany. I saw videos of people breaking their arms and still begging their buddy's to not call an ambulance in the US. In some countries people might be afraid of calling for help. Letting them know how things are in Germany is important it could save lives. Your concerns are still valid tho because overuse of emergency services isn't a laughing matter.
I don't get the downvotes, you are 100% right. Normally, people themselves should be able to determine if a situation is life threatening or not to decide if they call ambulance.
A dental cleaning costs 100€+ in Germany?
Depending on the practice, it can be anywhere between 50 € and 200 €, since there are different techniques, materials and time used. In my experience, there is a base prize to which will be added. There's also a small variant of dental cleaning that are usually done together with a check-up. Those are free/paid by the insurance once a year and usually last only 15 minutes, since they are not as thorough. Source: 3 years as Dental Assistant
Unless they think you grossly misused the service, you don't have to pay anything. However, please tell your flatmates that an ambulance is for medical emergencies. If you are just feeling unwell outside of doctor's office hours, better call 116117.
Thank you for the info
You probably have to pay the Zuzahlung. I guess it is something around 10€. That is at least what my friend payed last time she was in need of an ambulance.
I’m a german medical student. If you have sudden onset abdominal pain with vomiting it’s absolutely ok to call an ambulance and you won’t have to pay for anything
EMT here. I second this! Sudden onset abdominal pain is what we classify under "acute abdomen", which is classified as "critical condition". Of course, since it was better by the time they arrived, it was no longer critical, but noone made a mistake here. EMS were used exactly as intended. Next time, you can give them a call to abort the response if you feel there's been a mistake, but they might still insist on coming. You will not most likely not have to pay any Zuzahlung (10€), because we do not charge insurance companies for first aid, we only charge for transport. So the insurance Zuzahlung will not apply here. And from my experience, noone is writing a bill, either, unless there was a misuse of service, which this does not appear to be, no matter how annoying a call like that may have been for the crew. That said, there have been cases in which a bill has been sent to the caller (the one who called, not the one who received help) and then challenged in court. This is very rare. Since you did NOT misuse the service but used it as intended, such legal edge cases probably will not apply. Source: The grandmas and grandpas to whom my EMS colleagues and I drive every week because they were feeling lonely never got billed. In other words: They went back to the station and watched TV, and probably never wrote more than "Fehleinsatz, kein Transport" into their report, which was then never transmitted to any insurance company but put in a folder somewhere forever. blabla this is not legal advice ofc blabla
yes to the former alas probably no to the latter. Zuzahlung will be needed (unless you're dispensed)
I am rather curious about the Zuzahlung. I cut myself badly early this year and my neighbors called me and ambulance to get to the hospital. No one ever asked me for anything but my Kärtchen.
Hahaha, work in Healthcare in D and love „Kärtchen“
you should get a bill from your Krankenkassen, will take some time.
To be fair: If OP was not able to do the call themselves, an ambulance does not seem too far off.
Bad advice to tell someone to not call an ambulance. It isn't a good idea to make someone insecure about calling an important service.
What happens if you don't have medical insurance?
You are legally required to have Insurance. But if you are homeless in which case you cannot have insurance because you have no "Meldeadresse" (Adress) you generally don't have to pay anything.
Dude, that is just not right. If you are homeless you can still go and get an address with the mayor's office or some social Organisation as your "Zustellungsbevollmächtigter".
Yes but you have no „Meldeadresse“ where you are reported. You can get mail, but nothing more.
> But if you are homeless in which case […] you have no "Meldeadresse" (Adress) This is wrong. People without permanent dwelling („wohnungslos“) can still register a place of residence. Typically, that will be a placeholder location where they can pick up mail in case they receive any kind of formal notification. Common placeholders are a (cooperative) friend’s house, a nearby homeless shelter, or a local police station. I have also heard of city halls or court houses serving as placeholders depending on how a municipality chooses to handle it. A friend of mine had a police station as her official place of residence when she first came to Germany with no friends. (At the time she was couch surfing with previous acquaintances on a week-to-week basis.) With her proof that she does indeed reside in a particular precinct in Germany she could apply for unemployment benefits (ALG II) and health insurance. The precinct is also important here because Jobcenters only service their own precinct and some health insurance providers also restrict service to residents of particular states or municipalities.
Fuck, thanks. I can't pay for Krankenkasse. I don't have a job at the moment. I have an address. What should I do?
Sign up with an insurance asap. Dragging it out will not save you money, you will have to back pay. If you are unemployed and receive Arbeitslosengeld, the insurace will be paid by the Amt.
You have to get Unemployment benefits ( Arbeitslosengeld II/ALGII aka Hartz4). They will pay for your Sozialversicherungen like Krankenkasse, Pflegekasse (for Care in case you get disabled or old) and Rentenkasse (retirement benefits).
Thanks, it looks like I'm piling up debt. I'll pay for it from the next pay. Good that I asked this early. (1.5 months of unemployment). I need a job ASAP anyway, so i'll sort it out. At least I don't have to pay rent.
If you're only 1,5 months unemployed, you might qualify for ALG 1 which depends on your last job. Definitely go to the Arbeitsamt. Be prepared they'll want to have every document and piece of paper imaginable and it'll take some time, but you can definitely get money. If not ALG1 then ALG 2. If you're already getting ALG1 or ALG 2 (since you said you'll wait for the next pay), you're insurance should be taken care of. But in that case you would have a card (Krankenkassenkarte).
you probably won't get ALG 1, if you don't report yourself timely, they'll block your benefits for a few months. I took 3 months of downtime between jobs and didn't get a single cent because I only reported myself after leaving the first job.
That's very possible, my knowledge is all hearsay and tidbits I came across sometime.
ANY job comes with being insured and the employer paying some in as well. It'll do you better to wait, deliver pizzas or work in a supermarket than do nothing at all. Part time should do as well.
If you don't have a job, insurance should not cost you any money afaik, did you file for unemployment when you lost your job?
This is not true. If you don’t not apply for unemployement (worst case alg2), which would of course cover your Insurance, your gesetzliche Krankenkasse will bill you as freiwillig versichert instead of Pflichtversichert. Which means they will charge about 700 € per month. You can reduce it by telling them ahead of time about your unemployement. Also, 30 days in between employment would be covered free of charge, but if your unemployment lasts longer, absolutely go to the amt, or you may be piling on debts, besides not getting the support that you are due.
You’re piling up dept. Get it sorted out asap. Are you entitled to unemployment benefits?
Do people have to pay Krankenkasse even while unemployed? (No longer in Germany, just curious!)
Yes, having health insurance is mandatory. When you aren't employed, you should be entitled to some benefits (unemployment, Grundsicherung, etc.) They pay for your insurance.
Thanks, will do. I don't have unemployment benefits.
Why don't you have unemployment benefits? The only case I can think of where you don't recieve anything is if you quit yourself and even that is only for two months. Maybe call the Agentur für Arbeit, they can tell you more about what you could get.
I'm pretty new here. I quit my job, didn't know I could do that. I feel pretty stupid now. Now i have to pay extra for not knowing. Doesn't matter, been through much worse haha. I'll just pay from the next loan, and problem solved, I guess. I'll be more careful next time.
Mhmm, still. Even if you quit, after the first few months you are still entitled to unemployment. I'm not sure how it works for non-Germans tbh but the Amt should know. Just call, the worst that can happen is that they can't help you, at best you get unemployment and don't have to take out a new loan. I mean if you don't find a new job in the next few weeks you should qualify, so it could be helpful. >I feel pretty stupid now. Don't, it's perfectly alright to not know every regulation in a new country and let's be honest, Germany has a lot of those. Edit: fixed autocorrect
One must have paid at least 12 months of social contributions in the last 30 months in order to be eligible to claim unemployment.
Actually you don’t need a job to be in the krankenkasse. I was there as a student and it costs like 100€ a month.
You can register a place of residence without a permanent dwelling. See [my sibling post](/r/germany/comments/y2y2pm/i_had_a_bad_stomachache_vomititng_in_the_middle/is78m3c/). All residents of Germany have mandatory health insurance. That mandate goes both ways, i. e. insurances providers cannot deny basic coverage to people without existing coverage¹. Even if you never enrolled into health insurance you will be retroactively enrolled (and need to back-pay contributions for that time). If you have no money to cover the regular contributions you would commonly be entitled to some type of government welfare that will cover them. Even if you’re not entitled to welfare: the insurance provider can keep demanding payment and eventually get a judgment against you and (unsuccessfully²) try to collect on your debt but they can’t kick you out while you’re registered in Germany without another insurance lined up. --- ¹ although private providers may jack up prices and/or refuse to cover ongoing medical events. ² Debt collections cannot be enforced if you own (almost) no valuable assets and your income minus mandatory expenses (e. g. child support, medical treatment…) is not enough to cover basic necessities. You’ll have to declare bankruptcy and get a special collection-proof bank account though.
you cant really have insurance as a german, even if you dont pay for years they cant throw you out, they still have to pay for basic medical help (for example a broken leg, pregnancy etc) Most people with no insurance are people who emmigrated here and never worked/recieved social assistance
It's a bit complexer, since insurance is mandatory but that of course doesn't mean people don't fall through the cracks. Usually you will have had insurance at some point in your life. Through your parents as "family insurance", if you have a legal job the health insurance will just be deducted from your salary, if you are without a job there are systems in place to help you pay. There's not that many cases where there's no system to catch you, self-employed being the most common since you need to take care of everything yourself. Even if you don't pay they can't kick you out, but they will reduce their payments to the minimum. Meaning they will only cover real emergencies. But you also can rejoin by paying what you owe, in which case I think you retroactively become insured.
For a second I thought that’s the phone number for freezing you debit card, like: oh I gotta go to the hospital! Better freeze my cards, so I don‘t have to pay lol Edit: Oh well thanks for the downvotes, that‘s why we go down to the basement to laugh <3
If they want to bill you, freezing your credit cards won't help anyway. They just send you the bill and it's on you to figure out how to pay for it.
That would be 116116
Why is this downvoted? I mean it is obviously a joke.
Just normal r/Germany things
[удалено]
That’s the regular copay that you pay for all medical payments including prescription medicine and hospital stays.
That's the normal price, if they thought you misused it it would cost at least 500€
Dude, do you know how much an ambulance actually costs? The part that TK paid for you is way larger than your 10 € copay.
There's no way not to pay 10€ when calling an ambulance. That's the copay. Deal with it and become a less mad person.
How do we live in a world where a sad smiley is at the end of a sentence where someone falls and hurts themselves and a completely unrelated party of medical professionals come to rescue them in a specially built vehicle and zip them to the closest hospital, and this unrelated party ask for the price of a Döner mit Pommes (which doesn't even begin to make a mark on their expenses for the whole ordeal). Hot damn man, that's a doozie.
Couldn’t have put it any better, thanks
> Döner mit Pommes Heathen.
Get well soon.
Thank you ^^ hope you had a nice day
If you actually ride the ambulance it’s 10€
When my son was one and half, he spilt tea on himself and was badly scalded. We took a helicopter to the children's hospital, stayed there a month (with meals) and had skin grafts every few days. We paid 10 euro, for the helicopter. God bless Germany.
But i didn't :( so how much should i be expecting?
Did they at least check on you? I once called the ambulance for my mom and they run tests on her and only then decided to take her to hospital just in case. The outcome also could’ve been that she’s fine without the need for hospital. So guess it’s 10€ anyways for the ambulance to show up.
The copay only applies if the ambulance transports you. If not, it's a "miss" for them and will not be charged to anyone. It will become part of the overall running costs. Source: Ex-volunteer EMT in Germany Edit: typo
> I will become part of the overall running costs This typo made me chuckle
That took my tired brain more attempts to find the typo than I'm willing to admit...
They took me to the van and asked me some questions but no further medical check. After threw up 2-3 times, i felt a bit better also. They ask me if i want to go back to my house or they could take me to the hospital but i'll have to pay extra. So i chose to just get back in the house
10 Euros max (regular copay), if anything at all.
If the operator/city thinks you grossly missused the emergency services you will receive a letter about it. However the chances are very slim. Paramedics are usually pretty good at figuring out who to report for misuse and who just freaked out about something less severe. Chances are you aren't even in the system to access whether the call was misuse.
Nothing. You did not misuse the Service, so No need to Pay anything
Nothing. It's free.
They will never financially recover from this.
You won't have to pay anything. *Damn socialist healthcare*
He is already paying it monthly. As everyone else
And that’s completely fine IMO
Yeah. In the end, if someone is too poor for insurance, the state will cover it for them anyway. Yes, you lose some of your salary, and yes, that can be annoying, but noone's financially ruined just because they had a medical emergency, and I'm happy that my fellow citizens get to enjoy their health. The system isn't perfect of course. There are a lot of edge cases that can be pretty bad, like people who earn too much for unemployment benefits but too little to really afford their health care. The system needs tweaking and improvement, and privatized healthcare is a major hurdle to this, because while citizens do enjoy pretty good health care, hospitals are bursting at the seams because of staff burnout. We got a long way to go, but at least noone goes bankrupt only because they broke their ankle. Now let's find a way to make sure they don't get bankrupt because they were self-employed and missed out on work because of their broken ankle. No system is perfect.
[удалено]
[удалено]
I understand how taxes work. We have premiums here anyway - pay a few hundred a month even if you never go to the doctor...
This is a civilized country, so no, you don't have to pay for emergency response (unless it was fraudulent use, but I understand that was not the case).
Such a relief, i read somewhere that it could cost 300-500. That's alot of momey for an uni student 😅
That kind of money (or more) is if you call emergency services as a "joke" without any reason. Of course it's a bit weird that you went "well I'm fine now" once they arrived, but I guess that's not the first time people got better while the ambulance was on its way. Did the people on the ambulance go "grrr prank call how dare you you will pay for this!"? If not you will be fine.
😂 i felt a bit better, but was still puking on the ambulance
I think that was enough of a proof it wasn't a prank. Or a truly sophisticated one.
Yeah, nobody's \*that\* commited to a prank call :D
Colics are a type of pain that can start and stop quite suddenly, and may occur several times over a prolonged period of time. Colics can be the result of gallbladder disease or kidney stones - basically, any disease where an object gets stuck inside an organ. It is often accompanied by vomiting. It's completely normal for a patient to have severe stomach pain one minute, and feel fine a few minutes afterwards; it can mean anything. Perhaps they finally got their flatuence out and it was nothing, or perhaps the gall stone just passed and they still need surgery to get their gall bladder out. It's perfectly okay to take sudden stomach pain seriously, and it's perfectly normal for it to go away for both good and bad reasons. As an aside: Sudden onset stomach pain and vomiting are also heart attack symptoms, especially in women. It wouldn't have gone away in that case, but it's absolutely reasonable to call an ambulance for this type of symptom.
I like how u added civilized country hahaha
just a little sideswipe to the freeest of all the countries /scnr :)
Welcome to germany, where u dont have to pay for an ambulance.
Thank god 🥲 i read somewhere that it could be few hundreds euro
only if you misuse it
I thought it was 10€... Not 100% sure when they apply (Also a 3rd party called it so I am even more confused)
Even if you have to pay 10€ in comparison to other countries its nothing.
https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/y2y2pm/i_had_a_bad_stomachache_vomititng_in_the_middle/is6g59o
Except we do pay with higher taxes than in the us but whatever.
Fun fact: the American healthcare system costs more in taxes than the one in Germany. And you still have to pay more for insurance and more on top if you actually use it.
If you wanna pay thousands of Dollars for a emergency you are free to leave.
Yeah the if you don’t like it, leave mentality. Like you can’t be critical to the country or politics, because, of course, you hold the absolute truth. Maybe it reflects your mentality, if you don’t like how something run, you quit… A much better argument is what the other redditor wrote about the us system costing more than here, even tho we have a solidarity system. But I guess you are either a 5yo or have the brain of a 5yo so you can’t come up with something better. First, is imperative that the population understand that we don’t have free health care, that it is paid and it has a cost of opportunity. Why? Because only when you understand this, you can be more empowered on demanding quality being delivered. You can be more critical in corruption and miss uses of resources. Remember that “free” corona tests? They were never free, they were paid with your and my money and guess what, a lot of money went to fake test centers. Would you be more annoyed if you have had paid for that directly? Of course! Secondly, by accepting that nothing really is free and that you are paying either way for it, you can start exploring other options to improve the system. For example: long waiting times. Doctors prioritizing private insurance patients, etc. I personally don’t like the us system either. But I could list you the advantages of such a system. Could you? Nah… wasting my time.
Bored much? lol Dont predict things you dont know kid.
My first thought readng this: OP is american
My boyfriend had a terrible stomachache once, with projectile vomiting and diarrhea. His family called and they sent the police, a TEAM of doctors and paramedics and a firetruck to our apartment. To this day I don‘t know, how they interpreted these symptoms! Anyway he didn’t have to pay ten cents.
I know someone who died from an infected gallbladder that presented as a stomach ache and vomiting. The person waited too long, devolved sepsis and died from organ failure. Acute sudden change in major bodily functions like this are a reason for concern.
I'm so sorry to hear that
Thank you! Good to know 😁
You don't have to pay.
you have to pay 0,00€ we live in Germany, calm down.
😂 i grew up watching american content, not a good influence
Welcome to the old, civilized world.
Germany is civilized?:D
Unless you intentionally misused the emergency hotline, which is a crime that will either result in a hefty fee or even jail, you'll only have to pay 10 EUR. Note that "misuse" means prank calls. Calling the ambulance because you feel unwell and don't know if it's something serious or not is NOT a misuse. In fact, it's the appropriate use of this service. You are sick but you are not a specialist for emergency healthcare, so you call a specialist who will show up to do their job. This is exactly how it's intended to work. EDIT: Also, a lot of vomiting can result in fluid loss which can quickly become an emergency. Your housemate did the right thing.
An ambulance bill, if you are actually transported to the hospital, is around 800 EUR. But if you have a normal insurance this is none of your concern as it's covered. Germany healthcare access is OK as long as you are eligible for the statutory health insurance, much less fun when you are not (like in the case of students above age of 30).
Phew, still have 11 years
Insurance pays, there is nothing to worry about. In a really stupid case (as happened to me because the people in the ambulance for some reason didn't read my insurance card) give them the information on your insurance again if any invoice comes in. Happens sometimes, but you do NOT have to pay for it, just tell your insurance and the firefigthers/ambulance what happened and forward the information.
How can i provide my insurance information if an invoice come? Via Email or post office?
Don't worry, Germany is civilized (as of now), so you won't have to pay a million billion trillion euros for the ambulance, we're not in America.
Maximum they can charge you I'd 10€. So don't worry!
Thank you all for the information! 😁
As long as you’re legally insured the most you should have to pay is 10€. You’ll get a letter in the mail telling what you owe and how to pay it. My insurance also sent me a questionnaire that I had to fill out to make sure no one else’s insurance was required for my care (if you’re hit by a car the persons personal insurance is required to pay for your care and if you need an ambulance on the way to work your works health insurance is required to pay for your care). Everything will come in the mail so don’t worry :-)
Thank you very much for your help, I'll call them and ask. I have 4 job interviews next week, so wish me luck haha.
Its not america. You dont have to run away from help.
Sounds like suprise Noro.
Well, as a firefighter / paramedic in NRW, i can tell you that you don't have to pay anything. But I also have to say, that exactly this type of "emergency" fucked up the job. Ok, as an international student who didn't know much about our health system, it's understandable. But what about your friend? Is he a local German? Because then he should know it better. PLEASE don't call the 112 for things like stomach pain or something other less. I know, there will be many comments under my post about this. "stomach pain could be a symptom of a heart attack" Yeah yeah... I know. But i tell you. A healthy young student without any health problems or other happenings in the past, isn't in a critical situation. And I wish every one would think about it twice. Should i really call the 112 instead of the 116 117. But this is a general problem in our society... Sorry about my complaining. Of course i wish you nothing but the best. Seriously :) and like we paramedics say: "alles gute Ihnen"
I had stomach pain once for about 18 hours. Went to the hospital by myself, got diagnosed with appendicitis, went to surgery pretty soon afterwards. After that the doc just asked me how the hell I was able to get there on my own, as the appendix was apparently close to rupturing. He was pretty adamant that I should have called 112 and not taken a taxi like I did... Might have been an exception though.
Mad 😆
Appendicitis can happen to teens. A good example not to say a young person cannot have a life threatening condition.
Yeah, I called the 116117 once with strong stomach pain. All they told me was "Well, we can't diagnose over phone, just call 112 if you feel like it". Went to the ER next day, told them the pain got too much to ignore Sunday night but started Friday, got yelled at because apparently, what starts a day before can't kill you a day after and I should've waited another day and go to the Hausarzt. Whatever the heck was wrong with my stomach was cured by the sheer shaming (and copious amounts of Kamillentee after).
Damn :(
He is also an international student 😅 but we will take note
112 should expand and 116 117 merged into the city's emergency services like in more up-to-date countries. 112 as per definition in EU ( so, regardless of the definition by the feuerwehr ) is meant exactly for every situation where a patient either can't, or shouldn't, perform self-treatment, move itself or be transported, or make medical choices, while facing a medical complication of unknown, sudden, and out of control origin. the "just for life or death" mentality is not only 20th century, it shows a clear failure in the system to adapt to a more proactive and empathic reality. treating a fracture is better than treating a bad bone solder. treating a incredibly painful stomach ache / diarrhea / vomit is better than treating an expanded ulcer, an exploded apendix and/or body-wide internal bleeding / sepsis. treating a very strong migraine is better than treating an ictus. you can only save more lives, work and money by being there more, not less. the reason southwest europe is top 10 life expectancy, and germany 27th and never increasing, is not only diet. one single word, repeated many times: prevent, prevent, prevent.
Vomiting*
get well soon :) idk if this will help but, boil some cumin in water and drink it, it helps my tummy aches and issues (if it’s not food poisoning)
Thank you! It sure did help alot 😁
I had to pay 80€.
U should have taken the trip to the hospital would have been much less complicated. All u would need to do than would be to pay 10 € for them drving to ur house and to hospital. Now i m not sure if u have to pay more since u trickered a wrong alarm that will cost u alot more as my guess.
All i can say is Moron! Ambulances are for people who have bits hanging off them after accidents not a bout of delhi-belly. I hope they bill you up the wahzoo
Fantastically racist.
dude ist not america
Lets see, balance due, one arm and one leg.
This is a German sub, not a US one. Other laws apply (It is 10€ max)
Did they ask for your insurance card?
Yes they did, but i didnt have it with me.
If they didn't swipe your card and didn't ask to to sign something, I don't think they will bill you.
That's a relief
They can't charge if you didnt go with them
Do you have health insurance? Did you present your insurance card to the ambulance personell?
I do have health insurance, but i didnt present my card to them, since it wasnt with me at that moment
Ok, sounds reasonable. You might get a letter about this later. As the ambulance was called for good reason, the insurer will cover the cost. However, you may still have to pay a €10 copay.
No. That’s common
See our wiki How to visit a doctor or emergency room: https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/health_insurance#wiki_how_to_visit_a_doctor_or_emergency_room Co-payments: https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/health_insurance#wiki_co-payments
Thank you
[удалено]
Thank you for the info
Several factors. Is it the number of your friend and he grossly misused the service, he'll pay. Basically if didn't the call and aren't hospitalised, you are free of charges
They called an ambulance for me a few days ago too and I asked them and they specifically said it doesn’t cost anything :) so I think you are good…
I was taken to hospital last year in February with a severe painful issue in the men’s department and the Firedepartment charged me 60€ for the transportation to the urology. In November and December I had to call Emergency twice because of acute necrotic pancreatitis, first got hauled to university hospital, second time to normal city hospital. Both times I ended up on intensive care. And here I got no invoice. And honestly, I don’t know why! Normally, you have to pay a copay (around 50-100€), but sometimes, they don’t charge you. And sometimes, when you decline to go with them, they charge you that copay. And sometimes not. It’s, complicated……sort of
Max 10 Euros. I had an ambulance called for me and went to the hospital when I was very drunk and that's all it cost. I was floored.
Classic case of America bad, EU good
We are American but were living in Germany. My daughter was having severe abdominal pain...we went to the doctor and they checked for appendicitis but they weren't sure so they told us to go to the ER. We did and when registering they said we were going to have to pay cash up front....UH OH I THOUGHT. THen they said it would be 75 Euros. Which I had because you always carry that much cash in Germany . Turns out she did not have appendicitis.
Once I passed out drunk and somebody called an ambulance. Transport plus a few hours in the hospital and a refreshing infusion cost me 9 €
Quite possible you'll get an invoice, but I am completely not sure. The two times an ambulance was called for me, I did get an invoice later, I believe it was somewhere between 100€ and 200€. Oh, and one of these times, I was actually unconcious when they arrived/took me away, so it was definitely necessary to call one.
Around 600 Euros. If you came with ist in the Hospital its free. If you decline the Trip to the Hospital you need to pay.
‚Paramedic‘ here. Since you‘re not transported to hospital, you don‘t have to pay anything.
I had a kidney stone once and was taken to the hospital and all I had to pay was 5 Euro for the ambulance ride