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Health policy in Germany

In: Research Handbook on Health Care Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Gerlinger

Abstract

Healthcare in Germany is based on a health insurance system made up of two schemes, with the first being statutory and the other a substitutive private scheme. Statutory health insurance is mostly financed by gross income-based contributions borne equally by employees and employers, with a growing share of funding from general taxation in recent years. The state provides a legal framework that is given concrete form by the self-administering statutory health insurance funds and doctors, with a prominent role for the collective contract system. Healthcare provision is characterized by comprehensive entitlements to benefits, the central role of doctors and a high density of doctors and hospital beds. Though health policy has led to accelerated change in the German health system since the 1990s, significant problems persist. Healthcare remains very poorly coordinated and integrated, while over- and under-supply co-exist. Finally, the statutory health insurance/private health insurance dualism gives rise to several malfunctions.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Gerlinger, 2024. "Health policy in Germany," Chapters, in: Martin Powell & Tuba I. Agartan & Daniel Béland (ed.), Research Handbook on Health Care Policy, chapter 28, pages 516-568, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:elg:eechap:20769_28
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    File URL: https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781800887565.00032
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