No Free Health Care in Germany!

One thing that really drives me nuts is when someone gets hurt or sick in some other country, they go to the doctor or hospital...and don't get a bill!  "It was so nice" they typically say..."all my care was free!"

Geez, that is what I want for the new year, free health care.

But now a colleague of mine reports that he had a health care problem in Germany...and he is getting medical bills sent to him!  Achtung! In German!  What efficiency...they are sending them to his US address!

I asked to see them, just to compare them to the bills that we get in this country ("your charges were $10,000 but your health insurer cut out all the nonsense and got them down to just $1,000, saving you $9,000.") Developing...

My colleague also reports that

By the way, the food in the hospital was awful.
Breakfast…one roll & tea OR coffee. Lunch..soup & a small yogurt + tea OR coffee. Dinner 2 pieces of cold cut, one pice of cheese, two slices of bread + tea OR coffee. Not only that, I shared a room with 2 other guys, this was OK, but no curtains between beds.

Germany by the way spends about 11% of its GDP on health care, much less than the US...and they don't have a single payer system.