Socialized Medicine in Germany
Guten Morgan! This comes from a reader:
If you really want European socialized medicine (you personally no, but the masses in general) then you need to know some more information. I have lived and worked in Europe (Germany), I speak from experience. First, you are covered until you are 65 years old, after that you are on your own. You can by supplements so those of us with marketable skills will have better care. Second, there is no EMTALA, so uninsured, immigrants, and elderly will not be treated without cash in hand. More than once I saw people die trying to get “free” care. Atrial fibrillation at 66 in an ED, sit and wait for the MI or stroke. An immigrant hit by a car, better drag your broken body out of traffic or you’ll be fined for that. Honest, I saw these things.Taking care of people under 65 is cheap. Politicians would love this. They know more old people vote so they can’t do this until after we all agree to government health care. Then watch out, something will have to be done about the expense. We all know how whiny and entitled baby boomers can be. Perfect for a little class hatred.Just so you see it coming.
Wow! So it is not utopia? And there is governmental “cherry picking” going on over there? Very interesting.
Is that the whole E-mail? Can the author provide any links?
I find it hard to believe that the coverage just disappears at age 65.
He worked there. Maybe he will respond to your comment.
If you look at what is already going on with Medicare and ACO formations, you will be astounded with how our older population is quickly losing choice in care. In order to incentivize the ACO formations, much like HMOs, they are being promised panels of huge numbers of patients added to their care groups. If your physician has not been coerced to join that specific ACO, that doesn’t matter. You will be assigned a new doctor that you have no familiarity with and cannot change. I am already seeing well-managed care in my patients failing when they are transferred into these models. There’s a lot of deception on both sides.
I used to laud Australia for having one of the best socialized systems I ever saw, but haven’t looked in a while
Actually, studies show that Medicare is more efficient than private sector medicine, but agree they both suck. We don’t need more medicine, we need better medicine.
If Germany ignores the health needs of its 65+ population, why are they living as long as Americans?
Don’t think the author knows much about the German system. According to T.R. Reid in “The Healing of America”, all are covered, illegal or not, by 200 separate private insurance companies who compete for customers. The government may control the amount of payments but the German Health system is the most expensive (and perhaps the best) in Europe.
So what choices are there? The system we have now, where insurance companies run everything, also stinks.
What really baffles me in this whole discussion is why anyone would think that the government could run ANYTHING cheaper or more efficiently than the private sector. I challenge anyone to name a government program that has ever come in on or under budget. As far as efficiency goes, ever try to get anything accomplished with a government agency? You’d better have all day!
Our system may suck, but it’s largely because the government is involved in it. Most of what the insurance companies pull is modeled after what CMS does; they see CMS get away with it and jump on the bandwagon.