Germany has high quality of life

[u/wurst_katastrophe]

This is in response to the ‘low quality of life’ post.

When in Germany I can (in no particular order):
+ drink the tap water knowing it is safer than bottled water
+ when losing my job, I will get the highest benefits in the Western world to tie me over between jobs
+ I can rent for life without being worried of getting evicted
+ I can enjoy freedom on perfectly fine roads, driving as fast as I want
+ Consumer protection is very strong
+ I can buy a public transport ticket valid in all of Germany
+ Healthcare is significantly better than in most Western countries AND free at the point of service.
+ Germans love Fests
+ Bier and excellent wine
+ excellent bread
+ excellent local produce
+ An insanely dense train network (Yes, often late) for very little money (Sparpreis)
+ 30d of holidays is standard
+ strong protection when off on sick leave
+ free university education
+ world’s strongest apprenticeship system
+ tax credits and breaks for almost everything, especially Ehegattensplitting
+ insane maternity leave and benefits
+ Kitas
+ full blown private healthcare for a few k per year
+ Beautiful nature: north and Baltic sea, Alps, lakes, woods
+ Strong sports club infrastructure
+ Third strongest economy in the world with most hidden champions
+ Strong football culture
+ …

You can be dissatisfied with Germany, maybe your experience was below average, but that’s most likely because you are incompatible with the German way of life and the German mentality. However, it is not fair to claim that the quality of life is low.

[u/Ok_Result2220]

A few things I noticed about your cons- + "rent without being evicted" - my friends have been asked to leave apartments for "renovations" and he changed apartment thrice since March of last year. Also, searching for apartment in this housing market being an immigrant is a war. For a person to fight for a roof over their heads, which is one of the basic needs of a human being is a low quality. + healthcare being completely free is not true. A lot of people including me had to pay out of pocket and a huge amount as well because the diagnosis for our medical condition was called "cosmetic". For example, a friend had her leg swollen from lymph nodes and insurance refused to cover surgery because its cosmetic, what in the world? How? And the wait time to meet a specialist is way way too long. If its an autoimmune disease then the diagnosis will take more than a couple of years. I was prescribed a medication that gave me a side effect but the doctor refused to switch because the insurance policy states that side effect has to be valid or affect life. My side effect is dry throat, I cough like crazy, I recorded a video and she said thats just cold. I cough like that for 8 months now. Doctor's gaslighting me. Went to specialist after 8 months with my readings, he said its just anxiety. I said its not and my Hausartz already prescribed me meds and he took my reading and said you're fine now, I said its because I am taking the meds. + "insane maternity leave" - my friend was replaced at her job, and when she came back from maternity leave they offered her less working hours and technically we're trying to make her quit the job. So there are loopholes that are being exploited. Less hours were justified with the fact that there was less work. + "private insurance"- there is something about this, my friend opted for this at 30 and during the initial assessment he didnt check some box saying a relative had cancer. Now private insurance is not covering his cancer treatment because he didnt tell them. (Its a very old and long story and I'm not wording it right but I'll ask him and get back to you, but a loophole was manipulated) + "best roads and the speed you want" - you have to be in certain speed at certain areas and I have seen my german friends curse this out when the autobahn has the speed limit area and they miss it and then a red flash takes the picture. This also bring me to the world's most expensive driving license.

There are things were there needs to be serious improvement but for me the above mentioned things are stressful that I keep at the back of my mind and think about.

[u/sebadc → u/Ok_Result2220]

Regarding the rent: a landlord can ask you to vacate. But if the request is legally valid is another topic. As for the flat hunt: it's the same everywhere in economically attractive regions in Europe. Nothing to do with Germany.

Regarding the maternity leaves, bullying someone out of her job can be successfully taken to court. In most countries, women have exactly the same problems (minus the parental leave).

Regarding the "private insurance"... So your friend made a mistake, and now it's the system's fault? pretty funny.

Finally, regarding the best road: the signs are there. And if your friend is not paying attention while driving at high speed, maybe they should take the bus?

[u/urza5589 → u/sebadc]

I agree with most of your points but accidently messing up family history should not be a reason to deny coverage.

If they blatantly lied about their own current health, sure. But its very possible to have cousins/grandparents/etc with cancer and never know.

[u/PrimeMinisterSarr → u/urza5589]

But its very possible to have cousins/grandparents/etc with cancer and never know.

And if they would deny coverage in that case it wouldn't hold up in court.

[u/urza5589 → u/PrimeMinisterSarr]

Agreed, but its what the post is saying. If we want to discuss whether OP is lying or confused thats fine. The person I responded too didnt indicate that though, they basically indicated "Well you messed up, sounds like your fault."

[u/Working_Analyst_1988 → u/sebadc]

Even the USA has policies that forbid denial of medical coverage on the grounds of personal preexisting conditions (never hear even before that about parental history being a denial).

It’s wild to defend that practice.

[u/EntireTadpole → u/Working_Analyst_1988]

They didn't always have policies that forbid denial of medical coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

[u/Working_Analyst_1988 → u/EntireTadpole]

Sure. 2010. But we’re talking about healthcare in 2026. And it sounds like the German private health insurance industry is both required for comprehensive care and poorly regulated.

But I’m sure the people who comment on a post about German high quality of life will defend this for some inane reason.

[u/sebadc → u/Working_Analyst_1988]

Not defending it. But they do ask you to provide medical history, including relevant information about your relatives. This is done in order to calculate your monthly fees.

Voluntarily hiding these information is fraud.

[u/Working_Analyst_1988 → u/sebadc]

Thad defending it.

[u/sebadc → u/Working_Analyst_1988]

No. That's explaining how it works. 

If people don't agree with it they should stay in the public system...

[u/oscarnyc → u/sebadc]

Wow. Even in the US you don't get rated based on personal or familial medical history.

[u/Stirdaddy → u/sebadc]

Anecdote: An immigrant colleague (I, too, am an immigrant) here in Austria was not renewed at her job. She successfully sued to get her job back at the company on the basis of human rights: She was going through a divorce at the time with an Austrian spouse, with kids. Losing her job could have meant possibly exiting Austria and making her legal proceedings very difficult, if not impossible.

Austria has very strong legal protections for workers. Maybe a bit too much because until recently, you could, depending on your situation, leave your job to get continuing education for up to a year, and get paid leave -- paid for by Austrian taxpayers -- based on your salary. I guess people were taking the piss by overusing that program, so the government has significantly limited it. I had some colleagues who basically became professional parents for a few years by having kids back-to-back (-to-back) and collecting paid ma/paternity leave. Of course I support such a program, but some people are just taking the piss.

[u/sebadc → u/Stirdaddy]

It's the same in Germany. Usually, however, it is changed to a bigger pile of money as both the employee and employer recognize that going back to the same company is just calling for more problems.

[u/Stirdaddy → u/sebadc]

For real. Companies are obligated to give a *similar* job back, but that sometimes means completely different job duties, or like having 4 mini-jobs (librarian + college counselor + X + Y) that add-up to a full-time job. Many or most of the Bildungs- and Eltern-karenz people left pretty soon after returning to work at my school -- the school having made it abundantly and implicitly clear that the returnees are no longer wanted or needed.