The German healthcare system

The foundation of Germany’s healthcare system is derived from Germany’s Basic Law (Grundgesetz), which obliges the state to provide social services to its citizens (Articles 20, 28 of the Basic Law). Specifically, the state must ensure sufficient, needs-based ambulatory and inpatient medical treatment, in qualitative and quantitative terms, as well as guarantee the provision of medicine. The federal government may assume this duty itself or delegate it to state governments and institutions in the form of service guarantee contracts (§ 72, German Social Insurance Code, Book V). The following paper provides an overview of the structural organization, individual components and funding of the German healthcare system, which, in its current form, is extremely complex and which even experts find difficult to grasp.