Health Care in France and Germany

Health Care in France and Germany: Lessons for the UK

David G. Green Benedict Irvine

Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society London

First published December 2001 Civitas email: books@civitas.org.uk

© Institute for the Study of Civil Society 2001

All rights reserved ISBN 1-903 386-17-9

Typeset by Civitas in New Century Schoolbook Printed in Great Britain by Hartington Fine Arts Lancing, Sussex

Contents
Page Authors Acknowledgements vi vii

Introduction 1. France and Germany: the Consumer’s View 2. France: the System 3. Germany: the System 4. Lessons for the UK Glossary Notes

1 3 28 52 77 83 90

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Authors
David G. Green is the Director of Civitas. His books include Power and Party in an English City, Allen & Unwin, 1980; Mutual Aid or Welfare State?, Allen & Unwin, 1984 (with L. Cromwell); Working-Class Patients and the Medical Establishment, Temple Smith/ Gower, 1985; The New Right: The Counter Revolution in Political, Economic and Social Thought, Wheatsheaf, 1987; Reinventing Civil Society, IEA, 1993; Community Without Politics, IEA, 1996; Benefit Dependency, IEA, 1998; An End to Welfare Rights, IEA, 1999; Delay, Denial and Dilution, IEA, 1999 (with L. Casper); and Stakeholder Health Insurance, Civitas, 2000. He wrote the chapter on ‘The Neo-Liberal Perspective’ in The Student’s Companion to Social Policy, Blackwell, 1998. Benedict Irvine is Project Manager of the Civitas Health Unit. After studying law he completed a master’s degree in comparative European public administration at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. Before joining Civitas he worked as a researcher in the European Parliament. His areas of interest include citizen participation in public policy making, particularly in health care and social housing provision. He also holds degrees in music.

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Acknowledgements
A special thank-you must go to all our interviewees—in Paris, Munich, Berlin and London—who