V and I have been sick recently and yesterday afternoon we decided it was time to see a doctor. After calling one doctor and finding out that they weren’t able to take on any new patients (often they have patient quotas) we found one with open hours where you can stop in for an appointment. It was too late to make it during yesterday’s hours, so we went in this morning instead.
We arrived there shortly after they opened and, after having our insurance cards taken, were escorted to the waiting room. Unlike in the US, we didn’t have to fill out any forms when we arrived. The only information they needed was our telephone number. After a 5-10 minute wait (there was one patient with an appointment before us), we both made it into the doctors office. No, we didn’t wait weeks upon months for an appointment; no, we didn’t stand hours upon days in lines. Quite the contrary, we found it relatively easy to see a doctor in this socialist, communist loving universal health care society.
The appointment was very normal and we both were prescribed some antibiotics. The only real differences were that 1) it was in German, 2) we have to mail a form they gave us to our insurance company, and 3) we had to get a doctor’s note. As we may have mentioned before, teachers and students at our school have often been ill for long periods of time. This is perfectly acceptable, provided you have a doctor’s note verifying that, yes, you are indeed ill. We called the teacher who organizes substitutes this morning and after we saw the doctor we brought our ‘Krankenmeldungen’ note to the office to excuse ourselves for the day.
We were told to take today off of work and if we didn’t feel healthy enough on Monday to come in for a note to stay home until next Thursday (7 day medication). Our inclination is to be back in school on Monday barring anything serious. However, one nice difference is that we have an appointment next Thursday after we’ve had the full run of medication to make sure everything is working. How about that for service!
Some of you may be wondering about how all of this is paid for. Similar to the states, a portion of our monthly compensation goes toward our insurance. Being that we are employed, no worries. When we arrived last October Annette shuttled us around from city hall to department store to insurance agent, making sure we had all our bases covered and were willing (and legally able) to teach. We did have to pay a (one time per year) copay of 10 euros to see the doctor, but we feel that was offset when we went to the pharmacy to get the antibiotics and were told that they are free.
After having to change buses when one refused to keep its engine running (hey, I did say everything in Germany is ill) we made it home and began our quiet, relaxing, recuperating day with lots of rest and vitamin C. Gute Besserung!
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