Health Reform Without a Public Plan: The German Model - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com

Health Reform Without a Public Plan: The German Model - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com:

"What if that [public option] plan were sacrificed on the altar of bipartisanship? Would it be the end of meaningful health reform?

"Not necessarily, if the health systems of the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland are any guide.

"None of these countries uses a government-run, Medicare-like health insurance plan. They all rely on purely private, nonprofit or for-profit insurers that are goaded by tight regulation to work toward socially desired ends. And they do so at average per-capita health-care costs far below those of the United States — costs in Germany and the Netherlands are less than half of those here."

When I get in discussions of HC reform with my friends who are more committed to a single payer solution than I, I point out that most countries we look to as exemplars of excellent universal health care do not, in fact, use the single payer model, but use some hybridized form of the Bismarckian, or Social Health Insurance model, such as Germany. This may explain why the American College of Physicians made its policy recommendations in 2007: though single payer was recommended first, a hybrid system was neck and neck and felt to be more achievable.

Dr. Reinhardt explains the overview beautifully here, and I cannot improve upon it. He, as always, provides great framing to his points that can be appropriated for the discussions you have on the topic. For more details on the German system, go here.

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