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German Health Insurance : A Case Study

Decent Essays
On page 68, Reid explains that German health care spends less on administrative costs than the United States. The decrease in spending is due to a universal smart card known as the “digital health card” (Reid, 2010). This relates back to France’s vital card which Reid discusses throughout chapter four. Not only does this digital health card provide easy access to medical records and payments, but works to cut spending. Perhaps the United States should consider a card like this as we spend 17 percent of GDP on health care compared to Germanys 11 percent. However, as a future health professional, I’m worried about these spending cuts because they could potentially decrease entry level jobs in the medical field.
Unlike the United States,
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For you, Dr. Wheatley, this would be beneficial because you could change your plan and not have to be angry for a year until the option to change was given! For many people, they don’t realize that they’ve chosen the wrong plan until they go to the doctors and at that point, it’s too late.
The only part of Germany’s Bismarck model that I disagree with is that high income earners have to pay more for the price of insurance. There seems to be a bit of discrimination between upper and lower class based on this rule. Just because a family is rich doesn’t mean that they don’t need insurance coverage. In my opinion, insurance should be the same price no matter what your class may be. Also, the German model should not assume that the rich can afford health insurance. I think that everyone should be required to have the opportunity to be given insurance.
On page 82, Reid discusses Japan’s Bismarck model which differs from Germany’s due to the 3,500 health Insurance plans. These plans are divided into three general categories ranging from plans for large/small companies along with plans for those who are retired. Most importantly, everyone in Japan has to sign an individual mandate. I think that the United States needs to find a resolution after years of debates. It’s intriguing how a mandate that is implemented without any controversy in one country can be so controversial in another country. I find it fascinating that Japan wanted to
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