Health in Germany
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Germany does well in international health care comparisons. In 2004 Germany ranked thirtieth in the world in life expectancy (78 years), it had a very low infant mortality rate (4.7 per 1,000 live births), and it was tied for eighth place in the number of practicing physicians per 1,000 people (3.3). In 2001 total spending on health amounted to 10.8 percent of gross domestic product.[1]
Germany has three mandatory health benefits, which are co-financed by employer and employee: health insurance, accident insurance, and long-term care insurance. The health care reform law that took effect on January 1, 2004, aimed at reducing health insurance costs and required payroll deductions. Costs were to be reduced by introducing more competition into the health care system and requiring higher co-payments by the insured. Related savings were estimated at US$12 billion in 2004 and US$26 billion in 2005. In conjunction with the cost reductions, payroll contributions were expected to decline below 14 percent in 2004 and below 13 percent in 2005.[1]
In 2002 the top diagnosis for male patients released from the hospital was chronic heart disease, followed by alcohol-related disorders and hernias. For women, the top diagnoses related to pregnancies, breast cancer, and heart weakness. At the end of 2004, some 44,000 Germans, or less than 0.1 percent of the population, were infected with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). In the first half of 2005, German health authorities registered 1,164 new infections; about 60 percent of the cases involved homosexual men. Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, about 24,000 Germans have died from the disease. Widespread smoking also has a deleterious impact on health. According to a 2003 survey, 37 percent of adult males and 28 percent of adult females in Germany are smokers.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Germany country profile. Library of Congress Federal Research Division (December 2005). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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