At an individual level, I would be inclined to retain a number of elements of the German health care system. The nation boasts of a very low infant mortality rate and inexpensive health care compared to the United States. For instance, I would seek to retain the universal health care for all citizens to ensure that all are catered for whether poor or rich. More so, I would ensure that I retain the current proportion of citizen’s income as premiums of insurance. Germany currently charges only 8 percent of a worker’s gross income to a non-profit insurance firm known as a sickness fund. Workers are then given liberty to choose one among the over 240 sickness funds. In this way, all people in Germany are able to get insurance coverage to help in their bills. This method of basing charges of premiums on the amount of income that one makes is central as it ensures that persons with less income pay a corresponding less premium while receiving the same quality of health care as others. This principle known as solidarity in Germany should be retained to cater for the less fortunate. I would similarly aim at retaining the generous benefits which has no deductibles before an insurance company covers a citizen. Nonetheless, I would seek to do away with the discriminatory practice against the self-employed who are unable to benefit from an insurance cover taken by their spouse. This is because the self-employed more like those who earn an excess of $72,000 annually, have the option of buying their own private insurance coverage.
In the 2007 documentary Sicko, filmmaker Michael Moore compares the health care system of the United States against other European nations. He finds that unlike America where there is a focus on individual payment of premiums, high costs of services coupled with low quality of services, France has a free universal healthcare. He trumpets France as one of the best and most effective health providers which is a hybrid of both private and public financing methods. Indeed, France has demonstrated that this kind of financing can produce excellent results in health care delivery. France has a low infant mortality rate of 3.9 children per 1000 live births and a life expectancy of 72. The nation also boasts of more hospital beds than the United States and lower number of deaths resulting from chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart diseases. The chronically sick are required to pay only a small amount of money and the system has no deductibles. However, it is all not rosy for the health care consumers in France. The nation also grapples with a run-away inflation which has led to increase in taxes and a contemplation of adopting the United States model of health maintenance organizations in a bid to cut on costs. Therefore, I disagree with Moore that France is the most effective health care provider though it may seem ahead of the United States.
Works Cited
Altenstetter, Christa. "Insights From Health Care in Germany." American Journal of Public Health (2006): 38-44.
Callenbach, Ernest. ""Sicko"." Film Quarterly ,University of California Press (2008): 18-20.
Tanne, Janice Hopkins. "US health professionals demonstrate in support of Sicko." British Medical Journal (2007): 1338-1339.
