German vs US Healthcare Systems

German vs US Healthcare Systems
The health care system in Germany compared to the United States has similarities, however there are also some major differences. The United States faces severe challenges in access to health care, delivery and organization, and cost effectiveness. On the other hand, Germany’s system is confronted by problems in coordinating care and controlling costs. As the United States continues to spend a much higher amount of money on health care than Germany, statistical data shows that there are more uninsured and unhealthy individuals in the US. The United States is a progressive and advanced
nation that continues to fail its people by not providing coverage to all. However, the Germany offers two plans that assure all of its citizens are provided with some form of healthcare. The lack of universal healthcare coverage in the US is the forefront of the country’s problems. The U.S. expenditures top Germany’s in just one year, and universal health care coverage for their citizens is still not utilized.
Germany’s universal system ensures every citizen has one of two types of insurance: Private and Statutory. Citizen that fall below a certain income average are automatically enrolled into the statutory plan which is paid by the individual and their employer combined. If your earnings total over $53,000 (USD) per year, private health insurance is for you. Health care in Germany is 23% privately funded and 77% government with the average life expectancy being 78 years. Germany’s total spending on health care in 2001 equaled 10.8% of its GDP.
The United States has hospitals that are most often privately owned, although some function as non-profit, while others operate for profit, and approximately 21% are owned by the government. Every citizen in American has the option to either privately purchase insurance or be insured through a family member, or employers supply and pay for its employees coverage. If none of the mentioned options can apply to you, the option you have as an American citizen is to be left without any health care insurance. The US has very high rates of obesity, car accidents, infant mortality, sexually transmitted diseases, and disabilities, as well as various fatal and chronic illnesses. Life expectancy in the US is not as high as it should be for such a developed country. In spite of the statistics, Americans that live past 75 years old have a high possibility to live longer than those living to be their oldest on average. The United States spent 17.8% of its GDP in health care in 2011, which is higher than any other nation of the time.
Medicaid and Medicare are both options offered to citizens in the US. Medicaid is a welfare program for the poor, blind, and disabled. Medicare is a welfare program for the elderly. Many citizens would go without any coverage if these systems weren’t available to those who qualify. The Medicare program has the same coverage tendencies across America, while Medicaid’s policies can vary from state to state. Almost everyone over the age of 65 may qualify for Medicare. On average, about 23% of individual family incomes are spent out of pocket for the elderly. For average Americans, this amount of money being spent for health reasons is a very large portion of their income. The government spends currently 43% of expenditures on health care, which is an extremely high rate. Insurance companies pay about one-third of the costs, and consumers pay about one-fifth of the costs. Among some of the issues with these expenditure rates are that many American families cannot afford any insurance at all and the numbers of those cases continue to increase.
Since 2009, health insurance in Germany has been mandatory for its citizens. Before then, everyone had the option to choose not to have any coverage, but majority of the people opt to be covered. By competing, not-for-profit, non-governmental health insurance funds (called “sickness funds”) in the statutory health insurance scheme, or by voluntary substitutive private health insurance, service is provided across the country. The states own most hospitals under university standing, while municipalities take part in public health undertakings and own half of the hospital beds. Varying levels of government have no direct role in the immediate delivery of health care. Regulation is delegated, in large part, to the self-governing bodies of the sickness funds and the provider associations. The Federal Joint Committee is the most important branch, which was established in 2004. Statutory insurance covers prevented services such as regular dental checkups, basic immunizations, chronic disease checkups, and other covered services such as in-and-outpatient hospital care, physician services, mental health care, dental care, optometry, prescription coverage, medical aids, rehabilitation, hospice and palliative care. As the general population ages in Germany, the increased elderly percentage will increase demand and cost for health care services, making it less easy to control costs.
Medical care in the US is excellent in the United States, costs are rising, and the delivery system demonstrates challenges. America has a large amount of resources and treatments but does not command all citizens have health care coverage unlike Germany. It will only be a matter of time before everyone in America will be required to purchase health insurance.