A quick look
The healthcare landscape is the major pivotal transforming landscape for any economy reshaping its societal norms and the quality of life prevailing within the social boundaries. When we compare the healthcare structures of 2 global leaders that is Germany and the United States, they both offer advanced medical care and modern technologies but there are significant contrasts in the healthcare structure feeding financed and delivery offered by these 2 nations.
The healthcare industry is always defined by the ability to sustain and cure more people in a limited amount of time providing better life sustainability and fewer healthcare disparities in the social boundaries. Healthcare in Germany compared to the US is very contrasting and different when we compare other reshaping landscapes and factors such as finance management and delivery offered to the general public.
In this article, we will be throwing more limelight on some key advantages of the healthcare systems in Germany over that of the United States backed by the latest statistics and factual delivery.
1. Drug prices making the difference
The healthcare system in Germany compared to the US offers a more dynamic and universal price regulation system when it comes to the field of drug implementation and supply. The German nation employs a reference pricing system that is known as “AMNOG”, which evaluates the therapeutic value of a new drug that is installed in the market negotiating its price depending upon various aspects such as its clinical benefits and comparison of effects 2 the existing treatments.
This helps the German healthcare system to save billions of euros annually and also promotes a feeling of contentment among the people of the society pie making low-cost and more beneficial drugs available to the general public.
In contrast, the US healthcare systems are facing challenges with rising prescription drug prices driven by certain factors and regulations, patent protections, and market exclusivity of pharmaceutical companies.
According to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation prescription drug selling prices in the United States reached around 535 billion dollars in the year 2023 with prices continuing to outcast inflammation and strain the household budgets. These rising prices have also offered a new series of challenges for the common public to participate eagerly and willingly in the landscape of the healthcare systems prevailing in the United States.
2. Universal coverage by the healthcare systems
The German healthcare landscape is well governed and planned by the government of Germany providing universal coverage to its residents irrespective of their employment status and income. Under this framework, the healthcare outcomes are found that approximately 90% of the German population is enrolled in the statuary health insurance while the remaining 10% have the option to buy private health insurance on their own. This comprehensive coverage ensures individuals have access to almost every essential healthcare system required to live a
better life standard within the nation. This comprehensive coverage also includes healthcare outcomes and services such as preventive care hey hospital treatment and prescription of medications without facing any financial barrier depending upon the employment status and the income produced within the financial year.
In the United States healthcare system contrasts healthcare quality with the private healthcare system taking control over the healthcare landscape in the nation. The services are limited to the general public depending upon where capacity to buy the private services offered by these franchises and organizations. This creates a financial barrier among the citizenry of the nation promoting the ones with good financial backgrounds to have access to almost all the best healthcare facilities available within the nation depriving the lower social level of the need for treatment.
Considering a report published by the US Census Bureau approximately 8.6% of the total population or around 28,000,000 people were uninsured of their healthcare benefits in the year 2023. Even after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act by the government of the United States millions of American citizens still lack access to affordable health insurance resulting in healthcare disparities across the boundaries of the nation.
3. The healthcare expenditure cut-off
The German healthcare system outperforms the United States healthcare landscape even after allocating a smaller amount of its total GDP towards the healthcare infrastructure. Considering a report published by the World Bank Germany spent approximately 11.5% of its total GDP on the healthcare sector in the year 23 significantly lower when compared to the United States which allocated around 7.7% of its total GDP towards the healthcare landscape during the same period.
Despite the lower spending and the blower per capita on healthcare Germany has achieved favourable healthcare benefits prevailing within its boundaries provided and backed by comprehensive methods and coverages provided by the German government to its people.
4. The effect of preventive care
Healthcare in Germany compared to the US focuses on more preventive care rather than focusing on on-time delivery of the healthcare issues. This reduces the significant burden on the healthcare landscape of treating chronic diseases over a given period. This allocation and effective preventive care methods allocated by the German government over the boundaries of its nation have implemented and promoted low healthcare expenditures to provide better care and treatment for the general public.
Regular screenings government vaccination camps and health education provided by the German government all over the nation have also raised awareness among the general people living in the German society about what preventive care is and how they can be protected against well-known chronic diseases. In contrast, the healthcare landscape prevailing in the United States has focused less on preventive care leading to higher rates of nonpredictable diseases, causing a burden on the healthcare infrastructure of treating more and more chronic diseases in a limited amount of time.
According to data provided by the Robert Koch Institute Germany has significantly improved in key healthcare indicators such as life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates attributing and delivering the effect of preventive care on its healthcare landscape.
5. The power of integration
Healthcare in Germany compared to the US is well categorized and integrated by a high degree of primary care providers specialists and hospitals contributing their equivalent power into the healthcare landscape of the nation. This integrity has promoted a well-routed healthcare map for the general public living within the boundaries of the German nation to go through a well-devised plan for better diagnosis and treatment of almost every disease.
The general practitioners become the primary point of contact between the patient and coordinate gear and its status with the other practitioners if required. The hospitals come at the 3rd and the 4th level where specialist doctors can get access to the medical records of a patient as examined by the general practitioners which can help the German landscape of healthcare industries to easily diagnose and treat the patient.
In contrast, medical services in the United States seem to be more fragmented than coordinated. Almost every private enterprise provides its own healthcare and routine checkups to parties depending upon their financial status and the income they produce.
6. Dynamic patient-centered care
The German landscape of healthcare industries prioritizes patient-centred care focusing on the individual needs and differences in cases that need to be addressed. Not every individual is the same and this is well realized by the German healthcare infrastructure treating every patient more dynamically and differently. In contrast, the United States has focused on profit-driven fragmented systems of patient care and treatment.
Healthcare in Germany compared to the US has also proved to be more individual-centric than driven by profits made by these individual organizations as the government of the nation has provided special emphasis on various public sector Insurances and healthcare infrastructural development.
7. Primary infrastructural development
Healthcare in Germany compared to the US is backed by well devised and planned network to provide primary care to the general public. The German healthcare landscape maintains a robust primary care infrastructure delivering almost every citizen of the nation a better diagnostic platform eliminating financial expenditure.
The general practitioners serve as the most supporting pillar of the healthcare system they play a role in preventive care health promotion and disease diagnosis at the initial level promoting the upper German healthcare infrastructure to feel less burden off disease diagnostics and chronic disease treatment.
In contrast, the United States healthcare system faces serious challenges when it comes to the field of primary care and the workforce shortage, particularly in the rural and underserved areas of the nation. Almost all Americans living in these regions need to rush to private emergency departments and urgent care clinics for their primary treatment.
The healthcare outcomes that are reported by primary care infrastructural developments are well different for both the German and the US healthcare landscape where the German government has focused on the overall healthcare integrity of the nation while the United States healthcare infrastructure is well driven by this feeling of profit-making and private exclusivity.
The final comparison
Healthcare in Germany compared to the US has focused on more robust infrastructural development and has promoted various dynamic and public focus programs to make the general public aware of the healthcare systems and has also provided several government incentives to promote healthcare integrity. The healthcare outcomes in the United States are more driven by the feeling of profit-making and have promoted private sector inclusivity within the landscape of healthcare depriving the low economic powered sector to be deprived of the best healthcare facilities available in the nation.
This has created a challenge of healthcare disparity prevailing within the American boundaries which is well addressed by the German healthcare and the German government incentive of inclusivity and integrity that is promoted all across the nation.
