German Health Care System

Overview of Germany's Health Care System

Germany has the oldest universal multi payer health care system in Europe. Essentially, every German citizen is eligible to be enrolled in the social health insurance network, which is composed of 192 privately owned sickness funds or insurance plans.   Despite the fact that they are privately owned, they are publicly accountable and administer a public benefit. About 89% of the Germany   population is enrolled in the social health insurance network (Green, Irvine 2005). For the high income, there is the option to opt out of the social health insurance and purchase private voluntary health insurance.   Only about 9% of the German population made enough money to opt out of the social health insurance (Green, Irvine 2005). There is free government care for about 2% of the population. Germany is a system that spends quite a bit of money but which didn't do all that well according to the overall rankings by the World Health Organization (WHO). Nevertheless, Germany is generally known for having high-quality, comprehensive health care with few waiting lists, despite its many problems. Germans enjoy access to extremely comprehensive benefits, including a very generous sick pay policy. Essentially, during the first six weeks that a person is sick, their employer pays 100% of their salary; after that, the sickness fund pays 80% of the salary (Green, Irvine 2005).
There are several pressing problems in the German health care system. The foremost problem is that Germany has such an expensive health care system. The foremost problem is that Germany has such an expensive health care system, this is partly a function of the comprehensive benefits and the generous sick pay benefits. To combat this, Germany has imposed high levels of cost sharing in their system, including co-pays and co-insurance. There is an excessive number of physicians, and to prevent oversaturation in area, the German government has closed off 60% of the country...