Germany's Changing Health Care System
In 1949, when the occupying armies of the Allies left the region thathad been the German nation, two states were created, Communist-bloc EastGermany, and a western-friendly democracy, West Germany. In 1961, the EastGermany government erected a wall in Berlin to keep East Germans frombecoming West Germans. The wall, a hated symbol but also a real wedge intoGerman culture and society, stood until 1989. Suddenly, in the spring andsummer of that year, there was an exodus of East German citizens throughembassies in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In early October, therewere unheard-of public demonstrations against the East German government in With the world watching on TV, on November 9, 1989, the citizens ofEast German and West Germany breached the Berlin wall, and changedGerman-and even European-society in far-reaching ways. Only twenty-onedays later, on November 28, 1989, West German chancellor Helmut Kohl laidout a program to overcome another division, that between Germany and the A tacit quarantine of Germany, possibly because of the aggressiveposturing of East Germany (GDR), had existed since the Second World Wa
Still, while she advocated continuing todo the best for anyone who became ill, she noted that the present system isa financial calamity. (Bering-Jensen) The philosophy that created the German system dates back to Otto vonBismarck, the first German chancellor. And she demanded discounts from thepharmaceutical industry for bulk purchases made with public funds. (Costello 2003) I Health care reform is a sea change that is certainly not eagerlyawaited by German citizens. Government's role is to act as referee between providersand clients, and to assure, naturally, that the funds to pay for all of itare transferred. Historical basis of German healthcare Healthcare is regarded by sociologists as a 'social protectionsystem. Germans spent only 8 percent of the gross domesticproduct on health care in the 1990s. 1 percent in 1999, when about 48,900industrial corporations employed 6. Becausethere is nearly universal access to medical care, the only people seekingcare in emergency rooms have true emergencies.
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