Re:List price for stitches at Stanford Health Care: $93K
by hef19898 on Sunday July 11, 2021 @10:41AM
(#27801188)
The German system is fun, because while we call one part "public" (rather gesetzlich in German, which describes it much better) and private. Thing is, even the public (gesetzlich) part is run by private companies, they just have to offer a stanrdadized, regulated product at a set and regulated cost, they can offer additional services on top, they can even charge a couple of bucks more. They cannot decline anyone so (exept fringe cases like freelance artists for example, or others with their own profesion-based models) or exclude prexisting condition. Private providers can do that, that's why it is potentially cheaper when being young, but can be quite costsly when people get older. Which is the reason why I always stayed in the public model, less hassle overall.
It should be added that a healthcare system that relies on insurance companies isn't necessarily a problem, as evidenced by the number of countries (the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, etc.) with highly regarded healthcare systems that rely on private healthcare. Germany has a hybrid public/private system, while the Netherland system relies on mandatory personal health insurance. But these systems work because they are highly regulated and are designed to benefit the individual, with limits on how much providers are allowed to charge, for example.