Hartz IV is not unemployment benefits, it is social welfare (which you get once your unemployment insurance runs out). Unemployment insurance pays a percentage

Hartz IV is not unemployment benefits, it is social welfare (which you get once your unemployment insurance runs out). Unemployment insurance pays a percentage of your previous salary, but you also pay for it while being employed with a percentage of your salary... How much is social insurance in other countries, if it exists at all (does it exist in the US?)?. It has a bad reputation, but I always thought that Hartz IV is actually quite high. The numbers that are being floated in the press seem very low, but they always forget to mention that on top of that the state also pays the rent and health insurance for Hartz IV recipients. Where the system runs into trouble is when it sabotages the recipients through bureaucracy, for example some are being forced to move to a smaller flat even if it is more expensive. If they don't find something suitable in time or are simply unable to keep up with the bureaucracy, they might end up on the street. In that sense it is rather demeaning to people, but I think the amount of benefits received is probably OK. Healthcare still works very well for publicly insured people, although I worry for the future and it has some annoyances. But for example I personally am scared of going private because I worry that physicians will do too much useless stuff to my body just to make money (I know enough stories of that kind). Sometimes more is less...