I've also did part of my medical education in a hospital in Austria, and sure people will get care if it's deemed necessary, even if its completely obvious they will never be able to pay (like homeless people with severe drug addiction), but they were asked to provide a credit card or would get issued a bill if they couldn't provide an EHIC.
People absolutely get charged as foreigners.
In German healthcare you always need a "Kostenträger", but for EU citizens they will instead charge the national health insurance which then takes care of settling it with your home insurance scheme, so it might seem invisible for you.
That's true, but he probably carried insurance as it would probably be mandatory. I'm not sure if this applies only to schools, but universities here are barred from law to enroll you, unless you have provided a proof of health insurance
If that's all you're worried about then paying a insurance 20-80€ a year to insure a risk of 380€ would be a pretty stupid idea, and on average certainly not cheaper
I don't know much about the US health plans, you might check if they have some special offers, or if they are valid worldwide.
I've bought mine through Allianz, a big German insurance company.
They seem to offer travel insurance in the US too. But it's much more expensive and they have pretty low coverage limits in the US. (Here I pay 30€ a year and don't have any coverage limits for medical costs, there I was quoted 400$ a year for much shittier coverage). But you can compare yourself
In Germany the statutory Health insurance is 14,6% of your salary, capped at a maximum of 942€/month (half paid by you, half paid by your employer ), this also covers your children and your wife if she's not working.
But on the other hand, there won't be any significant out of pocket expenses here
From commercial providers. It's not necessary for EU Citizens travelling inside the EU/EEA as they are treated like people in the national systems for emergencies.
But it simplifies a lot because you can go to any doctor and sometimes they play dumb and pretend they don't know about the rules and want to force you to pay out of pocket (Happened to me in Austria, I've just reported them to the Austrian Health Insurance, he wanted 200€ which is outrageous overpriced and was a contracted doctor of ÖGK). Especially in Eastern Europe. But that applies only to GPs, Hospitals usually play by the rules.
And it's also useful for travelling outside of the EU
In Germany you would need to pay a copay for the ambulance between 5-10€, the emergency room would be fully covered. Only if you get admitted you would be charged a copay of 10€/day up to 30 days a year. For prescription medications there is also a copay between 5-10€ for each of them.
All Co-Pays are capped at 2% of your yearly income, or 1% if you suffer from chronic diseases
I guess he had some form of Health Insurance as it's mandatory to carry in Germany for almost everyone.
Also there is a copay of 5-10€ with public health insurance, but the insurance will send a separate bill for it. You won't usually get charged at point of service
Naja, als ich es letztes Mal was mit Zügen gepromptet habe, ist der Zug neben der Schiene gefahren und währenddessen nach rechts im Bild geslidet. Ist immer noch ziemlicher Müll
I've also did part of my medical education in a hospital in Austria, and sure people will get care if it's deemed necessary, even if its completely obvious they will never be able to pay (like homeless people with severe drug addiction), but they were asked to provide a credit card or would get issued a bill if they couldn't provide an EHIC.