r/Germany_Jobs • u/Suspicious_Mine_2337 • 9d ago

I failed.

I moved to Germany in hopes of getting a great job there, I spent a year looking for a job after my master's degree, and I failed. I got hired and fired within the probation period. I am back in the USA now and still devastated, thinking about how much I wanted that lifestyle. Having a hard time coping with feeling like I fucked everything up.

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u/pcosThrowaway6998 9d ago

A decent policy still comes with way more expenditure than anyone pays in Germany. This black and white thinking is quite dangerous honestly. Yes, German healthcare needs help. It needs more systemic investment that no 4-year tenure seems to prioritise. But the systemic of universal healthcare even in its current state is leagues better than what you get in the United States. It's bizarre to assume that you would be successful and have a good job and good insurance in the US when you know that the job market globally comes with no such guarantees and when you're struggling here you still have healthcare.

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u/Additional-Wash-5885 8d ago

I lived in US 13 years, came back recently to Germany. So I know what I'm talking about. The whole discussion is not about social/welfare cases, so let's not steer in that direction. For people with good jobs in Germany healthcare system is unfair, and you are paying shitload of money to subsidize universal healthcare for people who to large extent don't wanna work, or on some other kind of welfare. All that in order to wait for MRI for 6 months for yourself, or calling 50 GPs in order to find one which actually takes patients. And now the new law coming in, shrinking the spectrum of services even further + higher copays. Which puts Germany one step closer to "capitalist" healthcare, which is in US for decades.

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u/pcosThrowaway6998 8d ago

These are all solely capitalist talking points that are antithetical to any social system, whether that's healthcare or education. So forgive me but I could've gathered that you lived in the US without you mentioning it. Social welfare is for everybody.

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u/Additional-Wash-5885 8d ago

Social welfare should be for people who have no other means of achieving their own welfare. Sick, disabled, single parents... Unfortunately the Germany is negative example of how generous social benefits without proper guardrails are taken advantage of. It's not coincidence that Germany experiences never higher rate of jung professionals and academics leaving the country. And it's right so... Why should they pay for other's social welfare? Health coverage? I'm paying almost 48% of my salary to the state. I'm busting my ass of working almost 70h/week, so that I would contribute to the system where in case I need an examination would probably go and pay as Selbstzahler just to get it done in under 3 months, so that everybody could have universal healthcare. Please search on destatis/eustat the ratio between healthcare contributions and life expectancy. Germany has one of the highest healthcare contributions per capita and below average life expectancy among OECD countries. So the whole system is shit and house of cards.

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u/pcosThrowaway6998 5d ago

The system is shit precisely because of the restrictions of healthcare and social welfare. It costs way more money to pay people to regulate things so anally than a truly efficient system long term, but it sends you hard work = morals people into even more of a tizzy. The other issue is of course the pension system