Healthcare Policies of the German Federal Republic

Ursula Backhaus
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Ursula Backhaus: Hamburg

A chapter in Origins and Change of the Social Market Economy, 2023, pp 171-186 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The main institutions of the healthcare system were already in place, when the social market economy was introduced in Germany in 1948. The founders of the social market economy took over a system of statutory health insurance next to private health insurances, an early corporatist healthcare system, as well as a state system of public health. In order to meet the most pressing needs of the time, the politicians of the early social market economy put emphasis on building hospitals and on increasing the number of physicians. Later on, the stability of the system of statutory health insurance became the main concern, and cost-containment policies were introduced. In 2019, with the emergence and spreading of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), public health problems came to the forefront and required cooperative efforts within the social market economy. In this chapter, an analysis is provided of selected healthcare policies from the early days of the social market economy to the modern times. A modified version of the concept of Economic Style by Spiethoff is used in order to highlight multiple facets and changes of policies.

Keywords: Economic Style; Ludwig Erhard (1897–1977); Healthcare; Alfred Müller-Armack (1901–1978); Franz Oppenheimer (1864–1943); Public health; Wilhelm Röpke (1899–1966); Social market economy; Arthur Spiethoff (1873–1957); B25; I10; P41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-39210-8_10

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