Why I Choose Germany Over New Zealand: A Kiwi's Perspective

hey guys welcome back to my channel and if you're new here it is so great to have you I'm Anette a New Zealander living in the beautiful wine region of lower Franconia Germany when Germans find out that I'm a New Zealander living in Germany I receive the same confused surprised puzzled reaction every time they'll say to me things like why would you choose to live in Germany when you're from New Zealand a paradise like New Zealand I know that New Zealand is considered a dream location for many Germans and they are just so puzzled as to why I would choose to live in Germany over New Zealand and I have made a few videos addressing this so today I'm going to be doing a little bit of a follow-up video where I talk more about why my family and I have decided to live in Germany rather than New Zealand don't get me wrong New Zealand is amazing I am a New Zealander through and through and that will never change I love my homeland with all my heart but my husband is from Germany and we had to choose a place to live and raise our family Germany's not perfect by any means neither is New Zealand but we love living in Germany we love raising our family here and we choose Germany Germany is not a country we have to live in we live here because we choose to and we want to okay guys so with that being said let's jump into it I am going to be sharing the reasons why I would rather live in Germany as a New Zealander the first reason this is a no particular order but the first reason why I would rather live in Germany is because the healthcare system in Germany is without doubt one of the best in the world and my family and I have full access to it for me personally and probably for most of you watching this apart from family your health is everything without your health what do have and I have peace of mind knowing that if something serious happens we are going to be looked after here in Germany and we are going to receive Quality Health Care that won't send us into bankruptcy that is incredible I will be getting more into that soon but first I would like to take a moment to thank today's partner feather so a little bit about feather feather is a digital insurance provider tailored especially for expats to help them never this incredibly complex German Insurance system feather is actually designed by a team of expats who understand firsthand how challenging navigating German bureaucracy can be to make things easier for you fether has a digital online sign up process and policy management all online and all in English their customer service is amazing so if you have any questions or concerns there will be an expert right there to help you out fether offers a wide variety of valuable Insurance options including personal liability insurance pension insurance and of course health insurance which is an absolute must thether has this really cool calculator which helps people understand the cost differences and then from there they can also learn more about the coverage differences so you need to put in your yearly income not saying I earn this but this is just an example year of birth 1985 I have children under 25 occupation self-employed so you can see the results right here then you scroll down and it shows you how each of these options can appear it also explains how you can switch between policies this is a really great way to understand your options if you're considering switching to a cheaper provider so there's no question that the German health system is incredible but for you to be able to get access to it you need to be able to navigate the complex German Insurance system this can feel almost impossible if your German is not at a very high level or even if your German is at a decent level it's still very very hard feather has simplified absolutely everything for you and they are here to help you every step of the way so if you're an exp living in Germany or you are planning on moving to Germany soon and you need some help with the complex German Insurance system then you need to check out further I will link them in my description below so moving on I just want to tell you a little bit about how the German Health System differs from the New Zealand Health System so Germany has a health system combining public health insurance and Private health insurance over 90% of Germans are covered by public health insurance ensuring comprehensive access both the New Zealand health system and the German health system are funded through public taxes most new zealanders are publicly covered with a small number of new zealanders privately covered the reason why I think the New Zealand health system is not as good as the German health system is because if you were publicly covered this only covers the very essential services like the bare minimum in Germany you are fully covered for a much more extensive wider variety of Services New Zealand Prides itself on having a Public Health Care system that promises free access to medical service for all citizens that sounds great but there is a catch many patients face long waiting times and limited resources the average waiting time for elective surgery in New Zealand can exceed 6 months many doctor and nurses in New Zealand are very overworked and underpaid and because of this they are seeking other opportunities abroad so I've talked about the fact that Germany has very very high taxes you paying a lot of taxes every month but you get incredible health care which in my opinion is just absolutely Priceless so for me if I need to go to the doctor in Germany I can just make an appointment and go and get checked out without having to pay anything obviously I pay taxes but I don't have to pay anything for that doctor's visit and I can be referred to a specialist without having to pay anything they have a high number of highly trained Specialists here in Germany in uh wide variety of fields and I don't have to be waiting for months and months and months to be able to see a specialist if I need an urgent operation I'm not going to be waiting upwards of 6 months to receive this operation I've heard so many horror stories in New Zealand of people just waiting for months and months and months to receive a life-saving operation there's just simply not enough Specialists to keep up with a demand so as I said here in Germany if I am unwell I just make an appointment and I bring my insurance card to that appointment and I don't have to pay a cent out of pocket for that appointment so in New Zealand for children under 14 all of their basic medical treatment is covered by public health insurance but if you're between the age are 14 and 17 you need to pay 50 New Zealand do for just a regular checkup just a regular appointment at the doctor the GP if you haven't enrolled in that practice you're going to be paying a flat fee of $85 New Zealand do that is just for a checkup also it depends where you're located in New Zealand for example if you're in a more expensive area of Orland then you're going to be paying even more than that so 18 years plus a regular checkup if you enrolled at that doctor is $65 New Zealand and around $100 if you need an appointment and you're not enrolled for somebody who is not a New Zealand citizen if you need to see a doctor you're going to be paying around 170 to 220 New Zealand Dollars just for a checkup this is just for basic Medical Care anything extra you're going to be paying on top of that and don't even get me started about dental care it is absolutely outrageous in New Zealand I'm talking about the price my family and I go for a routine dental checkup every 6 months here in Germany and we don't have to pay anything for that obviously you know we're paying taxes but out of pocket we don't have to pay so we know that we can receive Dental Care you know without breaking the bag my daughter got braces a few years ago which were covered by public health insurance 100% covered this included speech therapy which was apparently needed for something to do with her jawer so something to do with the alignment of her jawer and so she attempted spech therapy we didn't have to pay anything for all of that and her teeth are absolutely beautiful now she has like a Hollywood smile and that was all covered by health insurance so in New Zealand the average price of getting braces is around $10,000 New Zealand do imagine if you have say three kids who all have genetically crooked teeth or dental problems and need braces just you know you can do the math and work that out it's going to be incredibly expensive so you will see a lot of new zealanders walking around with very very crooked teeth overbites under bites because people simply can't afford to get braces for their children another reason why I would rather live in Germany is because I do not have to worry about natural disasters such as earthquakes tsunamis volcanic eruptions obviously Germany is at risk for other natural disasters is like flooding and that kind of thing but New Zealand sits on the Pacific ring of fire so it's a geographical area knowing for its significant earthquake and volcanic activity so ockland alone is sitting on over 50 volcanoes and 10 major still active ones are scattered all over New Zealand one of the most terrifying things from growing up in New Zealand is experiencing earthquakes and I've never thankfully had to live through uh really devastating earthquake but there have been plenty of quite small earthquakes that I've experienced growing up in New Zealand it is so scary and I am just terrified of earthquakes obviously New Zealand is located in the Pacific Ocean you know it is made up of islands and when there are earthquakes there can also be other devastating natural disasters like tsunamis and don't even get me started on volcanic eruptions in my hometown of hawks Bay on the the 3rd of February in 1931 there was a absolutely devastating earthquake it's known as the napia earthquake it killed 256 people injuring thousands and devastating the whole Hawks Bay Region it remains New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster centered 15 km north of napia at lasted for 2 and 1/2 minutes and had the magnitude of 7.8 there were 525 aftershocks recorded in the following 2 weeks with 597 being recorded by the end of February the main shock could be felt in most of New Zealand with Reliable Reports coming in from as far as Timaru which is the east coast of the north island so even though the earthquake was in the North Island it could be felt in the South Island a completely separate Island this absolutely terrifies me and it hits pretty close to home considering you know it was located in in my hometown of hawks Bay and there have since been other devastating earthquakes more recently a horrific earthquake in Christ Church which absolutely devastated the whole city and for me this is absolutely terrifying imagine losing absolutely everything in a matter of a few minutes due to an earthquake I just find this I don't know I can't even comprehend what they would feel like so for me living in Germany I don't have to worry about earthquakes tsunamis volcanic eruptions and you know devastating natural disasters like that so yeah that is definitely one reason why I would prefer to live in Germany so guys I have come to the end of this video I wasn't planning on speaking so long about these topics there were actually more points that I was planning on talking about but I've just run out of time so I will have to save them for another video thank you so much for watching guys I really hope you enjoyed this video and don't get me wrong as I said I'm a New Zealander through and through I will always be a kiwi and I hold New Zealand very close to my heart and just because I would rather live in Germany at this time of my life doesn't mean I don't love New Zealand and it doesn't mean that I would not consider moving to New Zealand with my family in the distant future so before I go I just wanted to remind you if you're an expert like me living in Germany and you're struggling with the very complex German bureaucracy surrounding German insurances then make sure you check out feather they will be able to simplify everything it will all be in English it's all online so check further out I will leave a link to them in my description below thank you once again for watching guys if you enjoyed this video then don't forget to give it a big thumbs up it really helps out my channel if you are not already subscribed to my channel I would love you to consider subscribing that would mean the world to me feel free to connect with me on Instagram and I will see you again really soon bye