4 ms·

> If your life goes wrong, due to illnesses, unforeseen circumstances or unemployment, or if you plan to have a family, you're better off in Germany than in sil

> If your life goes wrong, due to illnesses, unforeseen circumstances or unemployment, or if you plan to have a family, you're better off in Germany than in silicon valley with 160k. Am I going to benefit from these as a foreigner not fluent in German language and having trouble navigating the bureaucratic maze of public healthcare and social support? My impression is that even the natives can get confused (see number of homeless and mental people on the streets or occupying the transport infrastructure).

jcbrand 9y ago
> see number of homeless and mental people on the streets There aren't that many in Germany, comparatively speaking.
_s 9y ago
Yes; from a predominantly English speaking individual who lived in Berlin and had to traverse said bureaucracy.
- pluma 9y ago
  Minor caveat: Berlin is not Germany. Berlin is fairly international so a lot of the infrastructure adapts to that, including public services. You'll still run into plenty public service workers speaking only German (and maybe rudimentary English) outside Berlin.
pavlov 9y ago
The number of homeless and mentally ill in the streets is much smaller in any German city than in San Francisco or New York.
lispm 9y ago
Probably a good idea to speak German if you want to live and work in Germany. Basically nobody here will be able to avoid the healthcare system.
- thunfischbrot 9y ago
  It is a good idea. Not necessary though in order to access health care. If you are in an environment with lots of expats or generally mixed backgrounds you'll likely survive without speaking much more than a handful of German words per week if you really want to (Heidelberg, Berlin, Bonn, Cologne, ...). It does help you though, as finding doctors and especially employees in public office who are able and willing to discuss with you in English is not a given.
  - lispm 9y ago
    It's possible, but it severely limits you if you don't speak German. I've been working with large companies - either international branches or German multinationals - and they don't like to speak English at work. They can, but it is dumb to have ten German engineers to discuss a topic in slightly broken or less than perfect English, just because there is one guy in the room not able to speak German. Documents or code might be English, but the whole conversation around it is preferred in German. This means when you don't speak German, you are mostly limited to work in projects where English is possible or the default - there are jobs like this, but this is actually limited. I've met persons who were ten years in Germany and were not able to do a general conversation in a job interview in German. I would not hire them - other than for specific projects/tasks where that would not be a problem.
thunfischbrot 9y ago
Bureaucratic it can be at times. Public healthcare though is very different from social support. Public healthcare is really simple compared to anything I've seen abroad, you sign up once and that's it. You only need to contact your (public) health care provider if your address changes or you marry, have children etc. At the doctor you present your health care ID, you usually don't have any interaction with your health care provider aside from that. Your monthly payment is automatically deducted from your salary (50%)/paid by your employer(50%). There are many edge cases which _do_ get more complicated, as (public) health insurance premiums depend on your reported salary. Let's say you have different income streams from different countries, have to pay alimony but also support your parent financially.
- majewsky 9y ago
  > At the doctor you present your health care ID, you usually don't have any interaction with your health care provider aside from that. Well, one thing. When your doctor writes you off sick, you get three copies of the sick note: One is for you, one is for your employer, and one is for your insurer. You get all three copies (they're carbon copies of the same form), so you have to mail the latter two. (The version for the employer has all the medical details blanked out.)
raverbashing 9y ago
"If I move to the US will I be able to navigate the bureaucratic maze of healthcare costs and private health services that cover only every other thing?"
- expertentipp 9y ago
  I didn’t claim anything about US, just wrote my comment in English - that’s it.
  - raverbashing 9y ago
    Fair enough! But getting confused by moving to a new place is common, regardless of language

jcbrand 9y ago

> see number of homeless and mental people on the streets There aren't that many in Germany, comparatively speaking.

_s 9y ago

Yes; from a predominantly English speaking individual who lived in Berlin and had to traverse said bureaucracy.

pluma 9y ago
Minor caveat: Berlin is not Germany. Berlin is fairly international so a lot of the infrastructure adapts to that, including public services. You'll still run into plenty public service workers speaking only German (and maybe rudimentary English) outside Berlin.

pavlov 9y ago

The number of homeless and mentally ill in the streets is much smaller in any German city than in San Francisco or New York.

lispm 9y ago

Probably a good idea to speak German if you want to live and work in Germany. Basically nobody here will be able to avoid the healthcare system.

thunfischbrot 9y ago
It is a good idea. Not necessary though in order to access health care. If you are in an environment with lots of expats or generally mixed backgrounds you'll likely survive without speaking much more than a handful of German words per week if you really want to (Heidelberg, Berlin, Bonn, Cologne, ...). It does help you though, as finding doctors and especially employees in public office who are able and willing to discuss with you in English is not a given.
- lispm 9y ago
  It's possible, but it severely limits you if you don't speak German. I've been working with large companies - either international branches or German multinationals - and they don't like to speak English at work. They can, but it is dumb to have ten German engineers to discuss a topic in slightly broken or less than perfect English, just because there is one guy in the room not able to speak German. Documents or code might be English, but the whole conversation around it is preferred in German. This means when you don't speak German, you are mostly limited to work in projects where English is possible or the default - there are jobs like this, but this is actually limited. I've met persons who were ten years in Germany and were not able to do a general conversation in a job interview in German. I would not hire them - other than for specific projects/tasks where that would not be a problem.

thunfischbrot 9y ago

Bureaucratic it can be at times. Public healthcare though is very different from social support. Public healthcare is really simple compared to anything I've seen abroad, you sign up once and that's it. You only need to contact your (public) health care provider if your address changes or you marry, have children etc. At the doctor you present your health care ID, you usually don't have any interaction with your health care provider aside from that. Your monthly payment is automatically deducted from your salary (50%)/paid by your employer(50%). There are many edge cases which _do_ get more complicated, as (public) health insurance premiums depend on your reported salary. Let's say you have different income streams from different countries, have to pay alimony but also support your parent financially.

majewsky 9y ago
> At the doctor you present your health care ID, you usually don't have any interaction with your health care provider aside from that. Well, one thing. When your doctor writes you off sick, you get three copies of the sick note: One is for you, one is for your employer, and one is for your insurer. You get all three copies (they're carbon copies of the same form), so you have to mail the latter two. (The version for the employer has all the medical details blanked out.)

raverbashing 9y ago

"If I move to the US will I be able to navigate the bureaucratic maze of healthcare costs and private health services that cover only every other thing?"

expertentipp 9y ago
I didn’t claim anything about US, just wrote my comment in English - that’s it.
- raverbashing 9y ago
  Fair enough! But getting confused by moving to a new place is common, regardless of language