Healthcare in Germany

Life expectancy development in Germany by sex

Germany has a universal[1] multi-payer health care system paid for by a combination of statutory health insurance (Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung) and private health insurance (Private Krankenversicherung).[2][3][4][5][6]

The turnover of the national health sector was about US$368.78 billion (€287.3 billion) in 2010, equivalent to 11.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and about US$4,505 (€3,510) per capita.[7] According to the World Health Organization, Germany's health care system was 77% government-funded and 23% privately funded as of 2004.[8] In 2004 Germany ranked thirtieth in the world in life expectancy (78 years for men). Physician density in Germany is 4.5 physicians per 1000 inhabitants as of 2021. It was 4.4 physicians per 1000 inhabitants in 2019. [9] It also had very low infant mortality rate (4.7 per 1,000 live births).[note 1][10] In 2001 total spending on health amounted to 10.8 percent of gross domestic product.[11]

According to the Euro health consumer index, which placed it in seventh position in its 2015 survey, Germany has long had the most restriction-free and consumer-oriented healthcare system in Europe. Patients are allowed to seek almost any type of care they wish whenever they want it.[12] In 2017, the government health system in Germany kept a record reserve of more than €18 billion, which made it one of the healthiest healthcare systems in the world at the time.[13]

  1. ^ Bump, Jesse B. (October 19, 2010). "The long road to universal health coverage. A century of lessons for development strategy" (PDF). Seattle: PATH. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 6, 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2013. Carrin and James have identified 1988—105 years after Bismarck's first sickness fund laws—as the date Germany achieved universal health coverage through this series of extensions to growing benefit packages and expansions of the enrolled population. Bärnighausen and Sauerborn have quantified this long-term progressive increase in the proportion of the German population covered mainly by public and to a smaller extent by private insurance. Their graph is reproduced below as Figure 1: German Population Enrolled in Health Insurance (%) 1885–1995.
    Carrin, Guy; James, Chris (January 2005). "Social health insurance: Key factors affecting the transition towards universal coverage" (PDF). International Social Security Review. 58 (1): 45–64. doi:10.1111/j.1468-246X.2005.00209.x. S2CID 154659524. Retrieved March 10, 2013. Initially the health insurance law of 1883 covered blue-collar workers in selected industries, craftspeople and other selected professionals.6 It is estimated that this law brought health insurance coverage up from 5 to 10 per cent of the total population.
    Bärnighausen, Till; Sauerborn, Rainer (May 2002). "One hundred and eighteen years of the German health insurance system: are there any lessons for middle- and low income countries?" (PDF). Social Science & Medicine. 54 (10): 1559–1587. doi:10.1016/S0277-9536(01)00137-X. PMID 12061488. Retrieved March 10, 2013. As Germany has the world's oldest SHI [social health insurance] system, it naturally lends itself to historical analyses
  2. ^ "Duden – Krankenkasse – Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition, Synonyme". duden.de.
  3. ^ The use of the term "Krankenkasse" for both public and private health insurances is so widespread that Duden doesn't even label this usage as colloquial.
  4. ^ "The Case for Universal Health Care in the United States". Cthealth.server101.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2011-08-06.
  5. ^ "German Health Care System – an Overview – Germany Health Insurance System". germanyhis.com.
  6. ^ DiPiero, Albert (2004). "Universal Problems & Universal Healthcare: 6 COUNTRIES — 6 SYSTEMS" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 February 2006.
  7. ^ A. J. W. Goldschmidt: Der 'Markt' Gesundheitswesen. In: M. Beck, A. J. W. Goldschmidt, A. Greulich, M. Kalbitzer, R. Schmidt, G. Thiele (Hrsg.): Management Handbuch DRGs, Hüthig / Economica, Heidelberg, 1. Auflage 2003 (ISBN 3-87081-300-8): S. C3720/1-24, with 3 revisions / additional deliveries until 2012
  8. ^ World Health Organization Statistical Information System: Core Health Indicators
  9. ^ "Physician density in 2020: 4.5 physicians per 1,000 people in Germany". Federal Statistical Office. Retrieved 2024-04-29.
  10. ^ Liu, K; Moon, M; Sulvetta, M; Chawla, J (1992). "International infant mortality rankings: a look behind the numbers". Health Care Financing Review. 13 (4): 105–18. PMC 4193257. PMID 10122000.
  11. ^ Germany country profile. Library of Congress Federal Research Division (December 2005). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  12. ^ "Outcomes in EHCI 2015" (PDF). Health Consumer Powerhouse. 26 January 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-06-06. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  13. ^ "Überschüsse bei den Krankenkassen – wohin mit dem Geld?". Medscape (in German). Retrieved 2019-03-17.[permanent dead link‍]


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