1993 German Health Reforms: Initiatives Tighten Cost Controls (Testimony,
10/13/93, GAO/T-HRD-94-2).

Expensive new technologies, an aging population, administrative waste,
structural inefficiencies, and unnecessary medical procedures have all
fueled soaring health care costs in most industrialized nations.  In
1993, Germany, concerned about sharp rises in health insurance premiums,
began tightening its existing cost-control measures.  The United States
may find the German experience instructive because that nation provides
coverage for nearly all its residents, guarantees a generous benefit
package, and, like the U.S. system, relies mainly on employment-based
financing.  This testimony, which draws on a July 1993 GAO report
(GAO/HRD-93-103), provides an overview of the German health care system,
discusses problems leading up to the 1993 reforms, and presents some
early results of these changes.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-HRD-94-2
     TITLE:  1993 German Health Reforms: Initiatives Tighten Cost 
             Controls
      DATE:  10/13/93
   SUBJECT:  Foreign governments
             Health care costs
             Health care cost control
             Physicians
             Health care services
             Hospital care services
             Health insurance
             Health insurance cost control
             Pharmaceutical industry
             Dental services
IDENTIFIER:  Germany
             Statutory Health Care System (Germany)
             National Health Care Reform Initiative
             Clinton Health Care Plan
             Health Security Act
             
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