Which is why I mentioned that in my very first sentence. Of course insurance is not free, don't pretend anyone seriously thinks that.

For employees, half of the fee is payed by their employer.

Oh come on, please don't fall for this. The employer doesn't care who gets the money. He pays a fixed amount, and gets a fixed amount of work from you. Whether part of it goes straight to the insurance or to you first doesn't matter. The employer or employee part of the fee could be 100% instead. All parties will end up with the same amount of money.

and if you're unemployed (or unemployable) do you lose the ability to use the insurance? does it get cancelled if you don't pay?

The first month after getting unemployed is free, after that either the unemployment insurance or the government takes over your payment.

If you have to pay the fee on your own and miss at least two months (which can't really happen for regular employees as the fee is taken directly out of their paycheck) the fees can be collected with exactly the same procedure as other taxes. Until this happens you are only covered in an acute illness or pain situation, pregnancy, and for some preventive checkups. Health insurance (both private and public) can never be cancelled for nonpayment.