Hospital and doctor's bills

Okay, for those of you who are privately insured and have received "stationäre Behandlung" perhaps you can help shed some light on how to pay the bills that just keep on coming. When I was discharged from the hospital, I was told I would not get anything from the clinic. Instead, they would bill my insurance directly since I had given them all the details. So far I have received three bills from the surgeon, doctor, and anestheticist who treated me. Does this mean that the clinic only billed my insurance for the hospital stay/care, or should I expect an invoice for that as well?

I have a "Selbstbehalt" of €25 per treatment. Is that for each doctor or every visit? If I went to a General Practitioner and was then referred to a specialist, is that Selbstbehalt appicable to each visit or does the entire diagnosis count as one?

Thanks in advance if you are able to help.

I had the same problem when I was in hospital 13 years ago, at the Harlachinger Krankenhaus in Munich. When I checked in to the hospital, I asked them to send all bills directly to my insurance provider, and they said they would do this. What I didn't realise was that the hospital itself only charged for the bed and board. All the medical treatments were provided by separate clinics within the hospital, each with its own invoicing system. Since I had a lot of diagnostic tests in different departments of the hospital, I received over a dozen bills afterwards, some of them quite large. So I asked my insurance if I could just forward all the bills to them, and let them reimburse the clinics directly, and they said OK, so I did.

I thought it might have been a bureaucratic slip-up at the hospital, but seeing the same thing happened to you, maybe this is standard practice in German hospitals. It's a long time ago now, so I can't be sure, but I don't seem to remember being asked for my insurance details by every department and specialist that treated me in the hospital, so I assume they got the information from the central hospital administration. But then, how are you supposed to let them know they should send the bills to your insurance, and not to you?

Re the "Selbstbehalt" - I guess you should ask your insurance for clarification on that.

Same here (two years ago).

I had mountains of bills to deal with a couple of years ago, gathered them up every couple of weeks and packed them off to the insurance company, which paid me for the total (less Selbstbehalt, but in my case that was only deducted once a year) and I then paid the individual bills once the insurance had paid me. The exception was particularly large bills (e.g. hospital stay) which went directly to the insurance company, but all the rest generally ends up as paperwork for the patient.

Yep, had an operation in July and still the bills keep coming in. The hospital stay and some costs it seems went straight to insurance company but anethetist, lab work, etc etc all sent directly to me. Cash flow severely affected at the mo as need to pay these and then claim the cash back. Paid almost another 1000 eur of bills yesterday alone for op and after care.

I'll never be so quick to criticise the National Health system in the UK again, for all its failings. The treatment in Germany may be good but otherwiseI believe the system here stinks and is open to excessive financial exploitation by the medical and dental bloodsuckers, resulting in the high insurance premiums we have little choice but to pay.

I send them on to my insurance company (Bupa Intl) and they pay the clinic direct...

Just got another bunch to send off now as it happens

But yes, there is usually a long flow of individual bills from all the different people involved.

I was in hospital here in January and I perceived it the other way round. I was expecting bills to come in - and they did, from the consultants. I was waiting and waiting for the big one from the clinic itself and it never came. Not until I got my next statement from my insurance did I realise that it had been billed direct. That's what surprised me. Glad it did happen that way, because it was a hell of a lot of dosh to fork out up front.

Well I was first privately insured - All the bills were sent to me and I sent them to the insurance with a letter stating what I was at the Doctor for etc and it was paid by the insurance.
Now I am insured with the german state insurance and I never see a bill.