American Health Care vs. German Health Care? Which is best?

Question

and why?

Answer 1

I used to live in Germany. It's mandatory that you have health care. There are many different ways of getting it and different coverages. You can pay for it yourself. Your employer can help yopu pay for it. Or, if you fall into a low income bracket, the government will pay for it, or, with your employer, pay for it.

The downside to German healthcare is that taxes for it can be pretty high. Add that to all of the other socialized things in Germany a some people pay almost half of their income in taxes. On the otherhand, the Germans are the best educated and most highly paid workforce in Europe.

Answer 2

The Germans pay less per capita than we do, and in return they have slightly longer life spans and lower incidence of chronic diseases.  Sounds like a plan to me.

Answer 3

PBS's Frontline has an excellent story called "Sick Around the World" on this issue.  German health care is better considering that the U.S. spends 15.3 % of its GDP on health while Germany spends 10.7 % of its GDP on health, for similar results with the U.S., and Germany has everyone covered no matter what their pre-existing condition is.  

German doctors make 2/3 that of American doctors, so perhaps that is unfair.

Answer 4

It depends on what you mean by 'best'.  In the US, we consider the value of everything based on profits and return on investment.  By that standard we have the best health care system in the world, because it produces the most profits for owners and investors.

But if your first priority in health care is not profits, if it's HEALTH, then Germany is better.  Because it costs them less, it covers more people, and produces better results.

Answer 5

German.

Look at the costs.  Cost less per person.  Higher life expectancy, and more importantly, lower death rates for kids aged under five.

Answer 6

It's all c**p. If humans would quit beig slobs and making and spreading all these nasty disases we'd be alright. So many fat slobs having fat slob children, filthy unhealthy foods, poisonous toys and water, tainted meats, biological waste sites, presciption pills on the streets, heroin junkies shooting, at least 40% of American paper money with drug residue, alcohol on in every store, cops waiting outside, Over run diseased prisons, digging up hundreds of possible dangerous diseases in the rain forrest a year, weed killer, rat killer, nuclear weapon, CO2 emissions, polluted air, cigarette tobacco.

The list goes on.

Answer 7

German!

Answer 8

German because it is EU regulated i.e. no Genetically modified foods, air, fixed results on pollution etc... Anything American I wouldn't trust because the philosophy of America is, if it makes a big buck then do it. How can you trust a health authority or indeed national government that runs on such a philosophy?