I'm member of a German public health fund (for political reasons, I could instead opt for cheaper private health insurance which many people argue is better, this option is not even available to most of the population). Last year, I went directly to a specialist for a non-urgent reason (two weeks between my call and the appointment) who recommend surgery which was scheduled in a top university hospital about four weeks later and performed by a highly regarded doctor. To make sure this is a good idea I visited another specialist before. I could have visited more if I wanted but there is really no reason to do that. I worried about lots of things but not one second about billing issues, waiting times, or quality of care.

Only thing I paid? The taxi ride home. For anything else there was my insurance card.

This is the same type of insurance plan 89% of the population uses – including the unemployed, middle managers, elderly, students, chronically ill, and always healthy.