Extra Thimian

Germany has a strange system of health insurance.  On the one hand, there are the private health insurers. You cannot go to a private insurance, if you don’t earn enough money. You pay your medical bills, and the insurance pays you back (essentially). Then there are the public insurers. They have to take close to everyone as customer, and aren’t directly accountable. You, as a patient, never see a bill. This is all handled between the medical provider and the insurances. As is proper, the more patients a doctor has, the less he earns, because a fixed budget has to be split across many more services rendered.

No, it doesn’t make sense to me, either.

Back in October, I was able to secure a job for me again, which also meant I could get health insurance again (that I wasn’t insured is not standard in Germany. I made a couple of mistakes regarding my unemployment benefits and reporting).

That’s where the trouble starts.

Even though I am employed by a German corporation, my work place is not in Germany. Despite telling as such to my prospective health insurer, they didn’t contact me via email, or the phone. They sent letters. To my postal address. I didn’t have the time, nor the money, to go to Germany to check my mail every weekend, or so.

After a lot of phone calls, urgent faxes, and even more phone calls, I thought I could expect my insurance card once I have vacation time.

So, finally, I get to go home. Obviously, my insurane card was not waiting for me. So, once there is time after the holidays I phone up my health insurance. No record of me exists in their system. But wait, they merged with another insurer, forming Germany’s largest health insurance. While the hotline people were very helpfull, I ended up in resending some paperwork. This happend January 7th 2009. Yesterday, I wasn’t in the system still. The hotline agent escalated the urgency of my application.

January 8th: Still no record in the system. I get a bit annoyed, and make my opinion known. The poor agent took it in stride, and promised me to send my applciation for preliminary coverage. This should be done by tomorrow. I’m not holding my breath.

I wouldn’t care, if I wouldn’t have to see a doctor because a small haemogram showed an odd finding. Nothing to worry about, since I have no other symptoms, and my employeer needs a clean bill of health for me, before I can get back to work.

Of course, since October, my health insurance happily took in my premium.

I am not a happy camper.

N.B.: The big partner of the merger (The TK), is not responsible for this SNAFU. The small partner IKK Direct is/was reponsible for all of this.

Filed under: English Language Posts, Germany, Health Insurance, Rantings by Phill