Public and Private Health Insurance in Germany: Analytical Essay

Abstract: Health insurance is necessary in Germany; most are asked to urge it. Before 2009 a number of the richest folks in the Federal Republic of Germany might select not to obtain insurance however, that’s not the case. Insurance is merely sold-out by non-commercial firms there are quite one hundred thirty of them and that they also are called illness funds. This topic was chosen to clarify the differences between public and private health insurance in Germany and it will also discuss the classification for each one of them in the German health system. The comparison will be used as a method depending on German websites and research institutions also to show and explain both sides of the topic clearly. The outcome of this topic is to be able to choose the best and suitable health insurance for a person living in Germany with the minimum requirements for each one of them whether it was economical or anything else. Keywords: (Health Insurance, Germany, Health system, Private health Insurance, Public health Insurance).

Goals and Methods: The main goal of this research is to explain the two types of health insurance in Germany clearly. One of the objectives is to make the consumer choose easily between the two types of insurances, and also, it is really important to make it a clear decision to take without any confusion. The question that will be answered and focused on in this research is, “When should I choose the public or the private health insurance in Germany? “. The purpose of this research is to let you choose the most suitable health insurance for you in Germany. The research will be important for those who are looking forward to live in Germany and it will be really useful to know what type of insurance is better for you and how the health system in Germany is working with knowing the major differences between the two types of health insurance.

Save your time!
We can take care of your essay

• Proper editing and formatting
• Free revision, title page, and bibliography
• Flexible prices and money-back guarantee

Place Order

Literature review: Bismarck's insurance Act of 1883 established the first welfare system inside the planet. The German statutory insurance system was designed on the method principles of commonality and self-governance, and these principles have remained at the core of its continuous development for one-hundred thirty-five years. A gradual enlargement of population and edges coverage has semiconductor diode to what is, in 2017, universal health coverage with a generous edges package. Self-governance was at the start applied principally to the payers (the malady funds) but was extended in 1913 to cover relations between malady funds and doctors, that in turn semiconductor diode to the right for insured folks to freely take their health-care suppliers. In 1993, the freedom to make your mind up on one's malady fund was formally introduced, and reforms that encourage competition and robust market orientation have bit by bit gained importance inside the past twenty-five years; these reforms were designed and enforced to protect the principles of commonality and self-governance. In 2004, self-governance was sturdy through the establishment of the Federal Joint Committee, a big payer-provider structure given the task of method uniform rules for access to and distribution of health care, edges coverage, coordination of care across sectors, quality, and efficiency.

Data analysis: The German health care system is divided into two systems public and private. There are also these travel insurances that may be all right if you are a student or if you just come to Germany but as soon as you decide to stay here in Germany for a while it's time to get proper health insurance because it's mandatory in Germany everyone living here needs health insurance public or private and this decision is a big one with far-reaching effects. To help you make the decision that is right for you let's look at what service you get followed by what you have to pay and this is also how you should choose. Please don't make this a sole financial decision your health is more important than that. There's a little over 100 public health insurance in Germany all basically have the same kind of benefits there's just very minor differences. Why are the benefits all the same?! Because the government makes the rules. Our social security law determines how much you have to pay for health insurance for public pension and also what kind of benefits you get. The big problem is that the government continuously decreases the benefits while increasing the premium but more about the costs later overtime members of the public health insurance has been forced to pay at least partly for their own medication for their own dental treatments and for their own glasses. Now why would government employees decrease their own health benefits?! Makes no sense, right?! Well, they don't. Plot with this that almost all government employees are a member of the private health insurance and in the private system all benefits are guaranteed and cannot be decreased it's a private contract between you and the company so as long as you fulfill your obligation of paying the premium the insurance will fulfill its obligation of guaranteeing you the benefits and you can choose the level of benefits you want to have yourself. German health insurance consists actually three different parts ambulatory for doctors, stationary for hospitals and dental for dentists .You can imagine the benefits of stars like hotels from one to five. In the private health insurance you can choose your benefits in all three different parts yourself if you want the best benefits you have to pay of course. The star level of the public health insurance is fixed by social security law at one star if you don't like it you can get private additive insurances on top of your public health insurance there's private additive insurance for all three parts of health insurance available that can lift you up to the five-star level so if you are not eligible to switch to the private system you can at least close the gap on a benefit level. Other benefits like free choice of doctor or hospital you cannot get as a member of the public system like you have to go to the closest doctor hospital that is accepted by the public health insurance and some doctors just choose not to work with the public health insurance. Why?! because a doctor or a hospital are a business and they get more from treating private patients than treating public patients that is why members of the private health insurance get an appointment the next day if they want and members of the public health insurance have to wait sometimes weeks or months. I'm not saying that's good or bad it's just facts it's how the world works neither you nor I are going to change the system we just have to find the right place inside the healthcare system for us. Unfortunately not everyone is free to choose if he wants to be public or private if you earn less than 62 500 euro growth in 2020 or less than 64 350 euro growth in 2021 you are forced to be a member of the public health insurance employees earning more or self-employed people have the freedom to choose if they want to be a member of the public system or the private system members of the public health insurance have to pay 14.6 percent of their income most likely your gross salary as premium so the more you earn the more health insurance you have to pay but everyone gets the same level of benefits on top of that every public health insurance charges an additional contribution that ranges between 0.3 percent to 1.5 depending on their efficiency so if you earn 56 250 euros or more you have to pay the maximum contribution of 698 euro in the most efficient and 755 euro in the least efficient public health insurance per month on the bright side your spouse and your children may be insured for free if none of them are working the private health insurance on the other hand is not bound to your income your premium is calculated based on the benefits you want the higher the star level the higher the premium your health status the more healthy you are the cheaper it is and your age the younger the cheaper of course. Does that mean your premium will explode when you're old?! you only need one health insurance public or private and of course your employer is paying half of your premium. Alright now that we've covered benefits and costs let's clear some myths. Myth number one: private is cheap when you're young and when you're old you can't afford a premium anymore. Okay, first let's come to what's true private is really cheap when you are young and healthy so for every one of you who is in Germany working for just a couple of years and plans to leave again you can save a lot of money by switching to the private system. Now let's get to the premium when you're old does the premium of the private health insurance increase over time? Yes. does the premium of the public health insurance increase over time? Also, yes. Well here's what iges an independent research institute (IGES Institut) found out in a study in 2017 from 1997 to 2015 the private premiums increased by 3.3 percent per year while the public health insurance increased only 2.6 per year so over 20 years republic won by 0.7 and over the last 10 years private increased by only 2.2 percent per year and the public by 3.7 per year so in the shorter time frame private one by one and a half percent as you can see both get more expensive over time that's what we know for sure which system will increase more in the future every member in private health insurance saves at least 10 percent of his premium for retirement and all these savings will keep your premium from exploding. Myth number two once private always private this is just a straight-up lie. There are just very strict rules when it comes to health insurance so you can't just switch to private because you feel like it and you can't also switch back to public because you feel like it.

Conclusion suggestions; In conclusion, this research eliminates two deficiencies and myths. The first myth is that private is cheap when you're young and when you're old you can't afford a premium anymore. The second myth is that once private always private. The reason why these myths exist is that nobody is looking at the German law or at objectively true facts and numbers everyone is just spreading random things they heard somewhere and think they're true especially all your expert friends or random people in Facebook groups they're probably good people. They're just not the right person to discuss your health insurance with as are public health insurance salesmen for example because they will tell you the public is better like private insurance salesmen will tell you private is better at least speak to both of them to get a more complete picture. Your health is more important than anything else. We all know this in these times of the pandemic right now is truer than ever so hopefully this research helped you to find the right system for you.