But if a procedure is medically necessary in Germany, public insurance pays for it too (and if they deny, you can, often successfully, appeal or sue them). The biggest difference is that you’ll get an appointment much faster due to the quota system for public insurance patients, and that private insurance can cover more things that aren’t strictly necessary.
The crazy thing is that I originally signed up for private because it was cheaper than public… at the beginning anyway. I much prefer the Austrian model, in which — I believe anyway — everyone has to pay for public, but then you can get extra private on top if you like.
I was an employee so this didn’t apply to me, but for my freelancer friends it seemed very unfair that they had to use private.
>But if a procedure is medically necessary in Germany, public insurance pays for it too (and if they deny, you can, often successfully, appeal or sue them
When you're very sick you hardly have time, money and energy do deal with a lawsuits so that you can get the care you desperately need. By the time you win your lawsuit you could be dead or your condition worse from the stress.
