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I think the OP is confusing a few things here. Public health insurance will always pay for whatever treatment you need. Age is only a factor in very few cases.

I think the OP is confusing a few things here. Public health insurance will always pay for whatever treatment you need. Age is only a factor in very few cases. What matters is that the doctor or hospital is also in Germany. The system allows you a huge amount of freedom in choosing who to get care from. But the system doesn't cover getting care from foreign facilities. Private health insurance policies have the same restriction.

cancertaway2 7y ago
> What matters is that the doctor or hospital is also in Germany. Given that ~90% of cancer research is funded in the United States [0], that might work for established therapies but anything on the cutting edge might be hard to get? According to this article from MGH, cutting edge immunotherapies cost ~$1M per patient: http://protomag.com/articles/solid-tumor-barrier http://protomag.com/articles/solid-tumor-barrier And this one demonstrates the delays in their availability in Europe. Sucks big time for the people currently needing treatment: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-12/novartis-faces-price-tussle-in-europe-after-cancer-breakthrough https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-12/novartis-... [0] #62 Peter Attia M.D. podcast with Keith Flaherty MGH
Roritharr 7y ago
That's precisely my point. I don't get much freedom when it comes to international healthcare and won't be able to save enough to pay out of pocket/take a loan for something as dramatic as this. The only insurance answer to this is a Dread Disease insurance which pays out once specific illnesses appear, but the amount and illnesses are completely dependent on your financials aswell, so you're still worse off in this case compared to simply earning more in the US. It's great that I don't have to fear going to the hospital for normal stuff, but everything extraordinary is very scary as our public healthcare system is simply crumbling, getting appointments for specialists can take months, hospitals are overcrowded (my mother was taken by an ambulance to a hospital due to a heart condition, only to be ferried further as all beds were full that night) and doctors and nurses are working themselves to the bone or simply leave the country outright.
- xenonite 7y ago
  I don’t know about the German insurance, but for example the Swiss insurance makes a specific exception: in case there is no adequate treatment or expertise available within Swiss borders, the insurance must cover a foreign treatment.
  - Roritharr 7y ago
    Sadly, as shown in my linked case, that isn't the case here. The boy would most likely have died if his parents didn't publicly raise the funds themselves and pursued the therapy in the US.

cancertaway2 7y ago

> What matters is that the doctor or hospital is also in Germany. Given that ~90% of cancer research is funded in the United States [0], that might work for established therapies but anything on the cutting edge might be hard to get? According to this article from MGH, cutting edge immunotherapies cost ~$1M per patient: http://protomag.com/articles/solid-tumor-barrier http://protomag.com/articles/solid-tumor-barrier And this one demonstrates the delays in their availability in Europe. Sucks big time for the people currently needing treatment: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-12/novartis-faces-price-tussle-in-europe-after-cancer-breakthrough https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-12/novartis-... [0] #62 Peter Attia M.D. podcast with Keith Flaherty MGH

Roritharr 7y ago

That's precisely my point. I don't get much freedom when it comes to international healthcare and won't be able to save enough to pay out of pocket/take a loan for something as dramatic as this. The only insurance answer to this is a Dread Disease insurance which pays out once specific illnesses appear, but the amount and illnesses are completely dependent on your financials aswell, so you're still worse off in this case compared to simply earning more in the US. It's great that I don't have to fear going to the hospital for normal stuff, but everything extraordinary is very scary as our public healthcare system is simply crumbling, getting appointments for specialists can take months, hospitals are overcrowded (my mother was taken by an ambulance to a hospital due to a heart condition, only to be ferried further as all beds were full that night) and doctors and nurses are working themselves to the bone or simply leave the country outright.

xenonite 7y ago
I don’t know about the German insurance, but for example the Swiss insurance makes a specific exception: in case there is no adequate treatment or expertise available within Swiss borders, the insurance must cover a foreign treatment.
- Roritharr 7y ago
  Sadly, as shown in my linked case, that isn't the case here. The boy would most likely have died if his parents didn't publicly raise the funds themselves and pursued the therapy in the US.