Review of German Health Care System

Germany spends 10% of its GDP on health care
compared to 16% in the US. With a two-tiered system, you might think
that those who rely on the public option would feel disadvantaged
compared to their private counterparts, but that is not the case:

"More than any model in the world, the German system offers a glimpse
of what health care could look like in the U.S. That's assuming any
bill survives the popular revolt. Unlike many countries with national
health–Canada, say, or the U.K.–where private insurance generally
supplements public coverage, Germany has two separate systems that
coexist, with private plans indirectly benefiting from the cost
controls of the public system.

Whether they have public or private coverage, most Germans love
their care. In a recent survey by m&m Management & Marketing
Consulting 84% of private insurance clients expressed satisfaction; so
did 85% of those who rely on the public system."

There is nothing magic about the German system. We already have the
basic framework in place here in the US.  But we lack the political
will.

"How does Germany do it? By doing what Medicare does and more. It
sets fixed reimbursement rates for hospitals and wields a stick
Medicare lacks: extracting price concessions from drug companies. But
Germany's quasi-public system has more leverage because it accounts for
a larger share of medical spending (albeit the power of the purse is
dispersed among 16 states). German general practitioners earn $80,000
or more a year, with three-fourths of their gross income coming from
publicly insured patients. In the U.S. general practitioners (including
family physicians) gross an average $161,490. In Germany private
repayment, though, is always more generous than what is dished out by
the public system"

I've heard US Senator Mitch McConnell on TV warning Americans that a
public option would ruin the "best health care system in the world",
and Americans would have to accept inferior treatment and long waits to
see a doctor.  The German experience shows that reality is just the
opposite: shorter waits and better care.

"One of the primal fears about reform in the U.S.–that it would
create a two-tier system where privately insured patients would get
better care and shorter waits–is largely a nonissue in Germany. The
public system is so dominant that when it comes to the treatment of
chronic illnesses, it matches and, in some cases, beats the care
available with private coverage. As for long delays in treatment, 68%
of public and private patients surveyed by the Commonwealth Fund
reported waiting less than four weeks to see a specialist, compared
with 74% in the U.S"

The piece is worth reading in its entirety, and should be required
reading for Olympia Snowe and her Republican colleagues in Congress.