What Germany’s Coal Miners Can Teach America About Medical Debt

Two hands reach up to a heart with a medical cross inside it

From Noam N. Levey / KFF Health News: Germany, like the U.S., has a largely private healthcare system that relies on private doctors and private insurers. Like Americans, many Germans enroll in a health plan through work, splitting the cost with their employer. But Germany strictly limits how much patients have to pay out of their own pockets for a trip to the doctor, the hospital, or the pharmacy, making medical debt practically nonexistent.

Read the original story here.

Read more articles on healthcare systems related to wellbeing.

More Resources:

Gus Hagelberg is a native of California and has lived in Southern Germany for over 30 years with his wife and three children. Gus studied political science in both California and Tübingen, Germany where he earned his Master’s Degree. He...

Anita Chandra (she/her) is vice president and director of RAND Social and Economic Well-Being and a senior policy researcher at RAND. The division that she leads covers a range of topics at the intersection of social and economic policy and...

Kumi Naidoo is a prominent South African human rights and environmental justice activist. Naidoo spoke with Ashley Hopkinson on December 15, 2023. Click here to read the full conversation with insights highlighted. Ashley Hopkinson: Can you introduce yourself and tell...

From Jackie Mader / The Hechinger Report: The $10 a Day initiative, which started in British Columbia and is now being expanded throughout Canada, subsidizes child care centers so that tuition for families can be capped at a more affordable...

From Rebecca Jacobson / Reed Magazine: Through Youth Voice Youth Vote, nearly 800 young people in Portland took part in a participatory budgeting process to decide how to spend $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding. The winning projects, including...

Gary Cohen is co-founder and president of Health Care Without Harm, an organization that works on environmentally sustainable healthcare and was created in 1996 to help transform the health care sector support the health and climate resilience of the communities...

We use cookies to improve your experience on our website. By continuing to browse, you agree to our use of cookies. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.