@genmaicha it's mandatory and is automagically deducted from your paycheck. if you are self-employed you can choose between the public law insurances (~200 to choose from, all paying the same shit..) and private insurance.

theoretically it's possible to have no insurance but if you have an accident you are totes fucked. _of course_ you aren't left to die in the streets. too much money to make. iirc you are automatically covered by the last insurance you were member of and then have to pay them back with hefty extra fines (like 400%) for the years you weren't insured.

the only case it's "free" is if you are receiving social security, but then your ass basically belongs to the state anyway.

if it really would be free for basic care in the sense of "one insurance everyone puts some money in" i wouldn't even mind.

the current system with many insurances which are by law doing almost the same is just completely ridiculous. think of all the money which just is wasted on bureaucrats, i bet it's around 50%.

@bonifartius interesting, I always assumed "free healthcare" meant it was free for everyone, no strings attached! but I'm not surprised that it's a lot more complicated and inconvenient than that.

@genmaicha of course! when a german has to solve a problem it immediately becomes an optimization problem to maximize inconvenience :)

@bonifartius really? the stereotype in the US is that Germans are uncompromisingly efficient, like showing up to meetings exactly on time and stuff

@genmaicha it's more like really well engineered rube goldberg machine in general. running on time, nice to look at, but completely insane.