Photo (detail): Harald Hauswald @ Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung
Health care System
Every citizen had a right to free healthcare in the GDR, with the polyclinic being a symbol of healthcare politics in the GDR. In West Germany a two-class system, public and private health insurance companies, offered more choices, but where was it more affordable to be sick? In East or West Germany? Does free health care equal lower quality healthcare? Fast forward to our present: How much should healthcare cost and who should pay the bill?
How did the East and West German health care systems differ? Donna Harsch, PhD, professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University explains GDR's nationalized healthcare system and FRG's mixed (public/private) health care system.
In 1949 when they parted ways, East Germany and West Germany inherited paragraph 218, an anti-abortion law. What did both countries make of paragraph 218? Was the distinction between pro-life and pro-choice as important in Germany as it is in the US?
Along with its childcare system, the GDR's health care system is what most East Germans miss about their former country. Take a look to see footage of what Kindergarten looked like in the East.
Ewen Li of Mt. Lebanon HS in Pittsburgh, PA, asks Donna T. Harsch, PhD: Did the quality of healthcare in East Germany decrease in order to compensate for its free cost? Does free health care equal lower quality healthcare?
Ewen Li of Mt. Lebanon HS in Pittsburgh, PA, asks Donna T. Harsch, PhD.: Does the current health system of Germany model itself after the health care system of East Germany (GDR) or West Germany (FRG)? Or is it a combination of both?
