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Some observations on greater competition in the West German health‐insurance system from a US perspective
Author(s) -
Finsinger Jörg,
Kraft Kornelius,
Pauly Mark
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
managerial and decision economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.288
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1099-1468
pISSN - 0143-6570
DOI - 10.1002/mde.4090070303
Subject(s) - german , equity (law) , competition (biology) , incentive , economics , perspective (graphical) , health care , economies of scale , public economics , business , monetary economics , market economy , economic growth , microeconomics , political science , geography , law , ecology , archaeology , artificial intelligence , computer science , biology
This article argues that greater competition could result in improved performance and greater efficiency in the West German health‐care system, much as more extensive competition has reduced the growth rate in the United States. Two special impediments to greater competition are discussed: (1) geographical limits in size of sickness funds which limit economies of scale, and (2) the tax‐like financing of individual sickness funds which may actually offer incentives to increase health‐care costs and which violates the most generally accepted principle of tax equity, that of horizontal equity.