Klaus Klein, director of the Health Education Research Unit at the University of Cologne, Germany, is speaking to health care students on the state of the German health care system today and Wednesday. Klein will talk to Nancy O'Neill's Introduction to Health Care class. O'Neill said that the United States system is based on fragmented coverage. Most Americans receive coverage from their employers, which leaves millions without health insurance. This is a large public policy problem in the United States, said O'Neill.
Many people employed by small businesses, or making low wages are still uninsured.
The United States health care system is run differently than the German system, which is focused on the goal of universal coverage. Germany changed to its current health care system in about 1890, in order to promote better treatment of workers. Klein said that Germany has a growing social conscious among the people, which is one difference between its system and the United States. In Germany, there is a mandatory system that every worker can join, the patient never sees a bill, the patient has a free choice of doctors and has more say as to whether the hospital is necessary. Klein said that officials in Germany are looking to change the system because of demographic problems, similar to Social Security in the United States.