Health Care
Private Health Care Insurance: Efficiency and Accessibility of Options in the U.S. and Germany
Mar 29On March 29, 2013, AICGS hosted a seminar entitled “Private Health Care Insurance: Efficiency and Accessibility of Options in the U.S. and Germany” with Ines Läufer, DAAD/AICGS Fellow. Ms. Läufer discussed the effects of regulation of the private insurance market in the U.S. and Germany and the role of private health insurers in the health care system in light of rising premiums and a lack of integrated health care management.
Ines Läufer
| Programs: Business & Economics Program
Ines Läufer was a DAAD/AICGS Research Fellow in February and March 2013. Her dissertation focuses on the potential of the private individual health insurance market in the U.S. and in Germany to provide an efficient and socially desirable health care system. At AICGS, she will follow current health policy debates in the… Read more >
Financing German Health Care
Former DAAD/AICGS fellow Dr. Dirk Göpffarth of the German Federal Insurance Office in Bonn, Germany and Klaus-Dirk Henke of the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany, recently published a report entitled “The German Central Health Fund—Recent developments in health care financing in Germany” in the journal Health Policy. The report outlines the changes made by a 2009 reform to Germany’s… Read more >
Pay-for-Performance in the Health Care System: Lessons Learned and Steps Forward
The German and U.S. health care systems may be different in many ways, but both countries face similar challenges. Both countries are troubled by aging populations and increasing health care costs, which significantly complicates their respective domestic policy debates. This Policy Report provides an analysis of how Germany and the U.S. attempt… Read more >
The U.S. Elections 2012: The Role of Health Care Reform
Over the last four years, President Barack Obama’s most significant bill was the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA), which introduced a major reform of the U.S. health care system. Although most provisions of the bill were affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in summer 2012, Republican opposition to the bill has been… Read more >
The U.S. and German Health Care Systems after the Health Care Decision: Not Much Closer
On June 28, the Supreme Court announced its decision to uphold all of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the controversial requirement for individuals to purchase health insurance or face a tax, which conservative challengers of the law starkly opposed. Although the fate of the law remains unclear –… Read more >
Access, Quality, and Affordability in Health Care in Germany and the United States
Despite dramatic differences in the history of their health care systems, the United States and Germany face similar challenges in improving the quality of care while simultaneously expanding access and making health care more affordable. Although the United States and Germany have issued a series of reforms to contain costs while supporting quality improvements, both countries persistently spend more than average on health care while lagging behind in quality.
The Momentum of Health Care Reform: UnitedHealth Maintains Consumer Protections
As consumers, insurance companies, and the federal government await the Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), one health insurance provider has stepped up to the plate and promised to maintain some of the law’s consumer protections even if the law is struck down. On June 11,… Read more >
2012
The Potential of Linking Quality of Medical Care with Payment Structures in the German and U.S. Healthcare Systems
May 21On May 21, 2012, the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies hosted a conference on “The Potential of Linking Quality of Medical Care with Payment Structures in the German and U.S. Healthcare Systems” with the generous support of the Robert Bosch Stiftung. Bringing together German and American health care policy experts, the conference was part of AICGS’ project on health care payment structures, which will also include several seminars and a policy report, ending with a final conference in Berlin on June 27, 2012. At the May 21 conference in Washington, German and American policy experts described the political obstacles to payment reform, agreed that both countries have much to learn from one another, and emphasized both the importance of data analysis of the effects of outcome-based payment structures on improving quality and controlling costs in guiding future reforms.
A Comparison of German and American Health Care Systems
May 18Please join AICGS on Friday, May 18, 2012, for a lunchtime seminar with Dr. Dirk Göpffarth, DAAD/AICGS Fellow, on “A Comparison of German and American Health Care Systems.” The discussion will take place at 12pm at the Equality Forum in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, located on 1640 Rhode Island Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. A light luncheon will be served.
