The manner in which payment is made for treatment at Bad Berka is quite different from the way this process works in the United States.
The first big difference is that the Finance Office will ask the patient to pay in advance for the treatment. This is normally not done in the United States since most transactions involve insurance coverage that takes place after a treatment. The Zentralklinik finance office does prefer to do a direct wire transfer of the payment or payment by a credit card.
Patients can also wait until they are actually at the Zentralklinik before making payment. Again, this can be done by the direct wiring of money from a bank or through the use of a credit card. U.S. patients must be aware that nearly all credit cards will charge a conversion fee (for Dollars to Euros) and this can be around 2-3% of your total bill. Some patients may even pay in cash.
Note that while the patient pays the bill for the treatment before actually getting the treatment, the bill will be reviewed again by finance at discharge time. Built into the bill for treatment is a Security Deposit of 15% above the preliminary estimate. This deposit is taken to cover unforeseen costs that might be encountered during the patient's treatment. At the time of discharge, if no unforeseen costs were encountered, then the Klinik returns the deposit. On the requested cost estimate, this is how it is stated:
"Please do understand that we have to ask for a deposit/security of 15 % just in case of unforeseen complications. Our patients get the deposit back for the most part. Nonetheless you have to pay off a possible negative balance.
For admission of the patient to our hospital it is necessary that the total costs (see above) are payed in advance per bank wire or in cash or by card (EC, MasterCard, VISA) on admission to our hospital. Please note that in Germany hospital bills are not containing V.A.T.
May we ask you to let us know (in writing) which kind of payment you prefer. Should the relevant amount not be paid in advance or on admission to the hospital, unfortunately it will not be possible to admit the patient."
Credit Cards that currently do not charge a foreign transaction fee:
British Airway's Card issued by Chase
Chase Sapphire