2016/05/05

Don't get sick

Last year I got very sick and had to vomit several times in a few hours. So I managed it to get to one of the Health Centers around here (single physicians seem to be rare) and after two hours of waiting time a medical doctor (MD, unlike Dr. in Germany) saw me for maybe 15 minutes - and I was charged 130$ for the diagnosis: normal stomach indigestion. Treatment and medication: Isotonic drinks and salt sticks. 
The weirdest part is, that I have three insurances and none of them covered the incidence. One is my normal German insurance, another on is included in my scholarship and the university makes sure that every student has an insurance as well. The insurances cover a lot, but that's only in case you go to hospital or the costs of treatment are above a certain amount, e.g. 300$. But as a normal student, how often do I end up in hospital and how often do I catch a cold? Of course, the costs of a hospital visit outnumber my minor complaints, yet, I guess that this happens a lot more often.

If you come to the Health Center and you're not an emergency, you are sent to the Advice Nurse who can prescribe simple medications, take tests or lets you go to an actual physician. This makes the system apparently more efficient and reduces wait times.

However, I am not too upset since we have a Health Center on campus and a few days ago I was sick again and I got treated after 10 min waiting time (since it was the University Health Center I didn't have to pay... yeah, this system is a bit different). They also sell common medication for lower prices then pharmacies due to student discounts!

Recently, my colleague (who is also an international student) went to the dentist and apparently the dentist was not too happy with the teeth he saw. Instead of calculating the total costs of the treatment, the dentist asked my colleague when he would fly back home to go to the dentist - the costs of the flight (he comes from the Middle East) plus the dentist fees would save my colleague 1000$ compared to the US dentist costs only!