| |||||||||||||
Patently stupidPatently stupidPosted Oct 12, 2012 9:42 UTC (Fri) by cortana (subscriber, #24596)In reply to: Patently stupid by dlang Parent article: The Patent, Used as a Sword (New York Times)
I asked my question specifically in the context of andresfreund's statement that "In Germany at least you can get private health insurance without paying the state organized one". I would like to know what happens when you opt for private health insurance but then require a treatment that the insurance won't cover (and implicitly that you are unable to afford). The alternative being too horrible to contemplate, I assume that the state steps in and pays for it anyway--in which case, you don't _really_ have the option to go entirely private in the first place. Not that I'm saying that is a bad thing--unless you are loaded then getting ill in the US can bankrupt you at best, and leave you dead and your family bankrupt to boot at worst!
(Log in to post comments)
Patently stupid Posted Oct 12, 2012 10:10 UTC (Fri) by andresfreund (subscriber, #69562) [Link]
> I would like to know what happens when you opt for private health insurance but then require a treatment that the insurance won't cover
They are required to provide a certain level of care to be allowed to provide the required insurance. There are things the GKV ("Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung" - the state organized insurance) provides which the PKVs ("Private Krankenversicherungen" - (partially) profit oriented insurances) don't have to, but I know of none that are life critical. Many of the things not necessarily payed by PKVs are in the somewhat affordable range.
Does that answer the question?
Patently stupid Posted Oct 12, 2012 10:43 UTC (Fri) by cortana (subscriber, #24596) [Link]
Very informative, thanks :)
|
|||||||||||||