I am German living the US, and I can absolutely second this. Neither view-point in inherently better or worse, just different. Note that Germany does have two

I am German living the US, and I can absolutely second this. Neither view-point in inherently better or worse, just different. Note that Germany does have two class system now. The public class, and the private class. When you're in the public system you often sit in different waiting rooms for hours while those with private insurance get priority treatment, choice of Dr., better rooms in hospitals, etc. Many Germans now follow a hybrid, basic coverage through public insurance, with private add-ons. It sounds like the poster had private care. Most vividly I remember the birth of my son some years ago in the US. We had to practically force the doctors to stop looking at monitors and machines and actually look at the mother. They wanted to control the whole process like a machine, instead of letting nature do its thing, unless and until something goes wrong. Afterwards the bill was $32k (for a no frill, no complications birth) $24k charged to his mother, $8 charged to my son (at age of the few days, his first official mail). The insurance covered it all, still the cost seemed staggering. However, _would_ something have happened, I felt extremely confident that we would receive the best care and treatment that current technology could deliver. It's also often different from Dr. to Dr. and region to region. I have not come across a chamomile sipping Dr. in Germany, yet. :) I do subscribe to reducing "fixing" things with pills. Often that's the instant-gratifying, cheap way out. Health requires thought, time, and "work". And of course I would not try to cure cancer with herbal tea.