You may not have seen these latest fashions on the runways in Paris or Milan, nor in the US – it was a condom fashion show in China.
Many said they really make a fashion statement… ok, what that statement is exactly, well, I’m not sure ;P
BTW, just for the record….all of the condoms used in these dresses are ones that have failed the quality control standards at the manufacturing plants. So it’s not much of a waste seeing that these condoms would normally be destroyed anyway… 
GIRLS if ever you are stuck for something to wear…TAKE A GOOD LOOK ;P
(for a better view, click on the photos)
Germany goes to the polls on Sunday.
The federal elections in Germany are very different than the elections in the US. With many discussions about jobs, alternative energy, Germany’s role in Afghanistan, climate etc.; the election campaigns are rather boring in comparison to the US. Our parties also don’t get nearly as many donations as the political parties in the US. (the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel got by with “just” 1.1 Million Euro, the highest donations so far).
Another difference is that Germany is a parliamentary democracy with a multi-party system (two strong parties and some other third parties that are electorally successful)
The exact date of the election is chosen by the President and must be a Sunday or public holiday.
Right now, Germany has five parties that pass the 5 percent hurdle in a federal election. Two “large parties” that most often get between 25% – 35% of the votes each and three smaller parties.
Angela Merkel’s party is one of the “large parties” known as the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), also called “The Blacks.” This party has held the office of chancellor the longest…together with their Bavarian sister party called the Christian Social Union (CSU). It is said that both parties represent “Christian values” because both were heavily influenced by the Catholic Church at some point in the past. I wouldn’t say that is still true today.
The party of former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and current Vice Chancellor Walter Steinmeier (who happens to be running for Chancellor in the upcoming election) is called the “Social Democratic Party Deutschland” (SPD) or “Social Democrats” or simply “The Reds.” They claim to be “the party of the people” (and the working class).
The Free Democrats (FDP) are the German liberal party “Yellow” and they reject excessive state regulations.
Bündnis 90/die Grünen “The Greens” have their roots in the anti-nuclear and peace movements of the 1970s. Environmental and gender equality issues are also at the top of their agenda.
And last, but not least, there are “The Lefts” (also called “Dark Red”). The left party mostly gained its base from discontented former members of the SPD (Reds) in the Western states of Germany, while in the Eastern states it’s rooted in the former Communist Party of East Germany, the SED.
The Lefts claim to be the champion of social causes and the “little man.” Unfortunately, this party still tries to gain points with Germany’s left-wing radicals.
I also should mention “The Browns.” This color always points to right-wing extremists in Germany and there are small “brown” parties like the Republicans and the German People’s Union (DVU), for example. Up to now, they haven’t been able to pass the 5 percent hurdle in the federal elections, but they have unfortunately found their way into some state parliaments.
The logical conclusion of this 5 parties-existence is that no party will get more than 50% of the votes. That means every new government will be a coalition of at least two parties. In the past, there have been some “preferred” coalitions…like “black/yellow” or “red/green.”
Four years ago, during the last federal election, none of the preferred coalitions received the majority of votes and were not able to govern. That is the reason why the “grand coalition” (black/red – CDU/SPD) was built. This coalition, however, has not really done much for the cause of democracy, because the government could rely on an over-sized majority in the German parliament (The Bundestag). They also had to link the interests of the two large parties (with different ideologies) and ended up with some highly questionable compromises. The opposition (yellow, green and the left) were each too small to play a role when it came to political decisions.
So it will be interesting to see what kind of coalition will govern for the next 4 years. Many voters are fed up with the current political situation and turning away from this “grand coalition.” According to the polls, the smaller parties are growing.
In Germany many voters are “swing voters” who vote “tactacilly” for or against a coalition. But there are also those who vote in party line by conviction and often are party-members themselves.
All German nationals over the age of 18 are eligible to vote, including most Germans resident outside Germany, and ligibility to vote is essentially the same as eligibility for candidacy.
Everyone over the age of 18 is automatically registered in a so called “voter registration” which is simultaneously a national register. Residents are required to report any change of address to register within a short time after moving (or the fact that they are homeless)
A few weeks before the federal election (or any other election, like local, state or EU) every citizen, over the age of 18 receives a polling (voting) card by mail and they then can choose to vote either by postal ballot or in their polling place. Each polling place has lists of all eligible voters resident in the neighborhood served by the particular station; the voter’s I.D. card is checked against these lists before they receive a paper ballot, like the ballots below…. this is a paper ballot- example in English
Voters elect the Members of the Bundestag directly, without electoral college.
And this is an original German paper ballot that was used during the 2005 federal election.
The German electoral system is based on slightly modified, so-called personalized, proportional representation. Each voter has two votes, the first of which is for a candidate in his or her constituency, the second for a state list of candidates put up by a particular party. The number of seats a party holds in the Bundestag is determined by the number of valid second votes it receives.
On March 3rd 2009 the highest German Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht, Federal Constitutional Court) ruled that electronic voting machines like Nedap ESD1 and ESD2 are not permissible in Germany.
http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/en/decisions/rs20090303_2bvc000307en.html
This btw. was the result of a lawsuit by physicist Ulrich Wiesner and his father Joachim Wiesner, a professor emeritus of political science.
The main argument against the voting machines in the eyes of the Court is that they conflict with the principle of transparency.
Voting machines are not illegal per se, but with these machines it wasn’t possible to verify the results after the votes were cast in 2005.
The Court said that the basic constitutional right to open and public elections was offended because a citizen/voter would require special (computer) knowledge in order to be able to check whether the whole election process was carried out correctly. So any machine to be used has to be able to let anyone to check whether his/her vote was correctly taken into account and the overall execution of the election process without needing any special knowledge.
I quote an important part of this ruling:
“In a republic, elections are a matter for the entire people and a joint concern of all citizens. Consequently, the monitoring of the election procedure must also be a matter for and a task of the citizen. Each citizen must be able to comprehend and verify the central steps in the elections.”
Btw. countries that use hand counted paper ballots only have one contest on the entire ballot. That is why their elections often are counted quickly and accurately, in most cases.
However… on Sunday there will be only paper ballots in the polling places in Germany.
The latest polls indicate that Sunday’s federal elections could prove to be a repeat of the country’s 2005 vote.
What would be a disaster, if you ask me.
It seems that the support for the coalition of Angela Merkel’s “black party union” and the free democrats now have only 46 percent of the vote. The “union” has fallen to 34 percent and the “Free Democrats” to 14 percent, according to the German Handelsblatt, which commissioned the poll from Info GmbH.
This percentage is no longer enough to secure the CDU/CSU-FDP coalition a win in Sunday’s vote.
Other polls indicate a similar loss.
If these numbers don’t change, Germany might have another “grand coalition” for the next 4 years, or a real “three party coalition” for the first time in it’s history.
WWII started on Sept 1st 1939 when Nazi-Germany invaded Poland and more than 60 million people lost their lives during this war.
After 70 years the question why Hitler wasn’t stopped still remaines.
Nazi Germany brought the Second World War on themselves, the rest of Europe and the World. Yes, they opened Pandora’s Box.
I think that many children and students (and people in general) in many countries are not given the right presentation of the world’s history, most often large chucks of it are left out. There needs to be an awareness of this so people can know the full scope of what happened at this time. No one should be ignorant of history regardless of whose “fault” the event was.
We cannot expect to progress if we do not objectively accept both the good and bad of our past. I already posted a blog about this… here is the link
Some historical facts about Germany WWII (with documentaries)
Spiegel online has a WWII archive with many related articles, interviews, opinions also about the upcoming ” final Nazi trial” in October this year.
They wrote a two series article “Why Hitler wasn’t stopped” and “How appeasement failed to stop Hitler”
And also published an interview with Richard von Weizsäcker (former German president) who was a soldier in WWII about his own experiences….
…. as well as “The revenge on Ethnic Germans and how a Czech town is still divided over how to commemorate the 1945 massacre”
This is not the only massacre that happened… like I said above there needs to be awareness of the full scope of what happened at this time, no matter what happened and who did it. Germany has already acknowledged the crimes of WW2, it’s time for Czechs to do the same in that area. It’s called balance, it’s called the rule of law. Acknowledge it, put it away and move on…. and I repeat myself: “We cannot expect to progress if we do not objectively accept both the good and bad of our past” and that applies to everyone imho.
source: Spiegel online
Forty-five kilometers from the North Sea island of Borkum, three giant wind turbines made their debut on Wednesday at Germany’s first offshore wind park.
Construction began in 2007, with massive foundations that had to be anchored to the sea floor, sometimes at a depth of more than 30 meters.
T
his first offshore wind park, dubbed “Alpha Ventus,” should be complete by year’s end. Hundreds more will have to follow if Germany is going to meet its renewable energy goals.
An offshore platform processes the electricity.
Then it transmits it back to the mainland through a thick cable, shown here at the Groodepolderdeich near the island of Norderney in Germany’s East Frisia region.
Tasteless and racist?
The poster put up by the environmental Greens party in the western town of Kaarst contains a play on words: “Black” in German party politics refers to the color colloquially used to describe Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. Other major parties are described as red, yellow and, of course, green.
The poster is meant to highlight the Greens’ support for same-sex partnerships, said the local head of the Greens, Christian Gaumitz, according to the daily Rheinische Post. “We only put up a small number of these posters. The response has been very big, but the majority of people share our understanding of the subject: that it’s provocative, but not tasteless.”
(source: Spiegel online)
A view from Berlin… just a “repost” from “Spiegel Online” – a German online magazine about the health care situation in the US.
By Gabor Steingart in Washington
Barack Obama wants to modernize the American health care system. But his ambitions come with a cost of around $1 trillion, a price tag that even some Democrats say is too high. Will he fail, as Clinton did before him?
In times of trouble, US President Barack Obama always turns to his closest allies, the citizens of America. And Wednesday was no exception.
The president had invited about 200 journalists to the White House, but really they were just the window dressing. Obama was talking right over their heads — to the Americans assembled in front of their TVs.
It’s easy to fall prey to Washington’s political games, he told his audience. “To turn every issue into a running tally of who’s up and who’s down,” Obama said. He said it hadn’t been lost on him that one Republican strategist had advised members of his party to “go for the kill” rather than compromise on health care and that another told activists that the health care issue “could break” the Democratic president.
The citizen president looked his fellow Americans firmly in the eye. It wasn’t about him, he said. “This debate is not a game for these Americans (who can’t afford health insurance). … They’re looking to us for leadership and we can’t let them down.”
In the cradle of capitalism, the president is arguing for more solidarity. Because up until now, being sick in America has been a private matter; and as a result, 47 million Americans have no health insurance today. So Obama wants America to become less American.
Every day during the economic crisis, another estimated 14,000 people lose their jobs, and therefore their health insurance. Additionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that thousands of Americans die each year because they are denied the most basic health care. For America, a superpower that likes to set an example to the rest of the world, that is a damning indictment.
Washington’s political circles have been buzzing since the president set a serious deadline for the passing of health care reform legislation. He wants it to happen this year. Support groups and activist organizations are buying billboard space, hoping to appeal to members of Congress on their way to work. The pastor of the city’s oldest Baptist congregation, in the Georgetown neighborhood, even campaigned for health care reform in a recent sermon: “It is time, America, for you to care for your poor and sick.” The congregation didn’t respond with any old “amen.” Instead it greeted her remarks with applause.
Even First Lady Michelle Obama has abandoned her political reserve. Once employed by the University of Chicago Hospitals, she now spends her time touring hospitals and orphanages to campaign for her husband’s most ambitious reform program to date.
A Bold and Overdue Plan
Obama may have inherited a lot of problems from his predecessor, but the reorganization of the American health care system is a crusade he has chosen. If he succeeds, that alone will see him go down in history as a notable leader. If he fails, though, it will be his first serious defeat.
At the moment, the situation isn’t looking very good for him. The president is leaving it up to the Democrats in Congress to do the work on his reform of the century, but he is also emphasizing the importance of bipartisan cooperation on the legislation. So when Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader in the Senate, postponed debate over health care legislation until after the summer recess instead of the end of July as Obama had hoped, it represented a setback for the president.
Obama wants to extend the right to state-sponsored health insurance to all Americans. He wants to complete what former President Lyndon Johnson began in the 1960s with the introduction of national health insurance for retirees and the disabled (Medicare), as well as for low-income Americans and children (Medicaid).
The plan is as bold as it is overdue. The American health care system is expensive, ineffective and socially inequitable — and it comes at an annual per capita cost of $7,500 — twice as high as in Germany. Since 2000, doctors, hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry have managed to achieve a 70-percent increase in earnings, which Obama calls “health inflation.”
The health care industry already comprises a large and growing share of the American gross domestic product. That share is currently 16 percent, compared to only 10 percent in Germany. If nothing changes, it will increase to a monstrous 25 percent within the next 15 years.
The high costs of the system are not matched by comparable benefits and services. The government has no real control over the health care system and pharmaceutical executives, chief physicians and hospital managers set their own salaries. The health care market is like a game of football without a referee. And the American superpower ranks a shameful 37th in international studies of health care systems. According to one such study, about 100,000 people a year die in American hospitals as a result of infections, while another 98,000 die because of incorrect treatment.
America, as a Third World Country. Although the rate of return may not be as high as it is for Wall Street banks, where the US health care system does rank highly is in the profit margins of the medical-industrial complex. When advisors from the McKinsey management consultancy were hired to examine the system, they discovered $480 billion in profits that were not matched by performance.
“Pure Waste”
The renowned Institute of Medicine even estimates that almost one-third of all medical care in the US — or about $700 billion worth — is “pure waste.” This figure is one-and-a-half times the German federal budget and even exceeds the US military budget.
Bill and Hillary Clinton had hardly moved into the White House in 1993 before they took on the challenge of health care reform. And they failed spectacularly. Can Obama fare any better?
The magnitude of the problems has always been overshadowed by the size of the anti-reform coalition. Once again, the Republicans are intent on launching a battle of the cultures. Because while the debate revolves around party tactics, it also touches on some fundamental issues about American culture. How American should America be in the 21st century?
A unified opposition has agreed to disagree with “Obama-care” — but they are divided as to how to proceed from there. There are the radicals who, led by former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and fired up by conservative journalists like William Kristol, oppose any and all efforts for reform. In his blog, Kristol, the founder and editor of the Weekly Standard, an influential conservative political magazine, advises Republicans not to give in to the temptation “to try to appear constructive, or at least responsible.”
“Subprime Socialized Health Care”
The Republicans are disparaging the Obama healthcare plan as “socialism.” Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh calls the plan “subprime socialized health care,” in an allusion to the subprime mortgage loans that triggered the current economic crisis. And Republican Senator Jim DeMint, whose aggressive anti-Obama rhetoric has already sparked speculation of a possible presidential run, has described the health care reform as Obama’s “Waterloo.”
More moderate Republicans, including many senators, say they support health care reform but their search for a compromise is really a more refined, highly political version of the Republican conflict resolution strategy. They want to embroil the president in a long, energy-sapping discussion over details, hoping to portray Obama as a gambler and themselves as the advocates of the sick.
The strategy of delay seems to be working among conservative Democrats, too. “It’s better to have a product based on quality and thoughtfulness rather than try to jam something through,” Senate Majority Leader Reid said last week. Other members of Congress who are skeptical about health care reform say that a quick decision would be unjustifiable, given the complexity of the matter, and that Obama ought to be more patient.
Although the majority of Americans want a reform of the health care system, this majority shrinks the minute pollsters mention the costs of the proposed changes. Higher taxes and a bigger government deficit are extremely unpopular among voters, whether they be Republican or Democrat. The president’s approval rating also declined last week — another bad sign for health care reform.
The Obama project is without a doubt the most expensive program in America’s relatively short history, even costlier than the $787 billion economic stimulus package. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Committee estimates that the proposed healthcare reform legislation will cost around $1 trillion over the next 10 years.
continue to read part 2 HERE ….
I think not many people know what it means to be a “German” or what it means to grow up in a country that was responsible for millions of deaths. And even today there are too many people who don’t really know what happened before WWII and what happened after that….
To grow up in this country, also means, to know its history very well and the effects to the world until today…
It means to hear stories of people who were part of this time and it means feeling guilty because it happened.
Yes, I still feel guilty – more than 60 millions people died during this war and I often asked my grandma why they didn’t stand up – it is very difficult for me to understand that.
I heard the same again and again – we had no choice, as we recognized what happened it was too late – let it not happen again!
I am very “sensible” and I cannot deal with death very well, no matter who has to die and the number of 60 million people including more than 6 million Jews, is a number which has etched on my memory – and it will be there my whole life!
During the cold war, we learned to use diplomacy…. we did it because the danger was too great for everyone, for the whole world. There were too much “red buttons” and they still are there.
Anyway, I cannot go back in time (I really wish I could) but I want to bring this time closer to you, because there are still too many people who are missing some important facts.
Lets start with the many effects WWII had to the whole world…
“The effects of World War II had far-reaching implications for the international community. Many millions of lives had been lost as a result of the war. Germany was divided into four quadrants, which were controlled by the Allied Powers.
The war can be identified to varying degrees as the catalyst for many continental, national and local phenomena, such as the redrawing of European borders, the birth of the United Kingdom’s welfare state, the communist takeover of China and Eastern Europe, the creation of Israel, and the divisions of Germany and Korea. In addition, many organizations have roots in the Second World War; for example, the United Nations, the World Bank, the WTO, and the IMF. Technologies, such as nuclear fission, the computer and the jet engine, also appeared during this period.
For the first time in modern history, geopolitical power shifted away from western and central Europe. That multipolar world was replaced by a bipolar one dominated by the two most powerful victors, the United States and Soviet Union, which became known as the superpowers.
At the end of the war, millions of refugees were homeless, the European economy had collapsed, and most of the European industrial infrastructure was destroyed.”
As I was in London the first time with my school class, a women stopped and asked my friends and me if we were from Germany – I think she heard it because we talked in German – as we answered with a nod, she pointed with her finger of us and asked how we can live with our history, how we can live with the death of millions of people and how we can live with the fact that our parents or grandparents are responsible for the death of her whole family. I know that I grew stiff, I couldn’t speak because I had a lump in my throat and I just starred at her with tears in my eyes… she looked at me and asked me again.
I don’t know why she asked me – I always felt guilty… but I couldn’t answer I just could say: I am so sorry… but she cut me short and asked again:” How you feel? Shame on you…” She didn’t say it loud – she said it in a low voice and I remember her eyes… she starred at me with empty eyes!
I didn’t know what I should do – I was 16 years old… tears run down my cheeks and I put just out my hand, but she turned her back on me and wanted to walk away with tears in her eyes. After a few steps she came back… she looked at my hand, because I stood there “stunned” and she took my hand. She didn’t speak, she said nothing, she just took my hand and went away…
My teacher was outraged as he saw it – it was my history teacher – and he wanted to go after her, but I stopped him…
We talked about that later in the evening – because the whole class was shocked and also anxious. He had a lot of work to explain the whole issue and I think he did it very well.
Well…. That’s the burden we have to bear. Also those who didn’t live at that time.
It has many effects of our way of life till today and it also will be a fact for the next generations…
We are watched in everything what we do…
Would we sharpen our immigration law it would be told, ah… Germany went back in history…
Would we support a boycott against Israel, it would be told… ah, Germany is against the Jews….
Just a few examples…
And we have to use a lot of diplomacy, we have to look at things not only from one side, we have to find a Middle Way in everything what we do! And it brings a lot of problems!
Time changed, people changed and obviously history and historical facts are confusing people the more time goes by.
When I was in the US, I was surprised how much “alive” Hitler is in US news channels. He is mentioned there at least once a day… and many people seem to believe that Germans voted for Hitler, supported the war and are those who are responsible for what happened.
This is not really true. Hitler never got the popular vote during the elections, in fact he got less votes with every election.. A terrible mistake in the German constitution at that time and a Hindenburg mistake was responsible that he became chancellor and was able to change the laws…
I think these documantaries are providing some great historical facts. Facts, not many people seem to know.
Personally, I think the video below is one of the most important documentary series, with lots of background facts and interviews of people who lived during this time, some of them knew Hitler personally etc…. worth watching!
The Nazis – a warning from history
Another great series is “The world at war”
This series begins with a documentary, called “The New Germany”
In this first episode, the producers show the terrible cost of the war — worldwide devastation and the deaths of 55 million people. The program examines the politics and economy of Germany that brought forth the Nazi Party and the leadership of Adolf Hitler and explains the Nazi rise to power through promises of food, water, jobs, money and prosperity to a country full of unemployment and disdain for how they were treated in the Treaty of Versailles.
2. WWII – Inside the Reich of NAZI Germany (Germany 1940-1944)
3. WWII – The Aftermath (1945 and after)
After the War Conquering Germany (BBC Documentary)
Behind Closed Doors – Stalin, the Nazis and the West [documentary]
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/
Not many people know what happened to Germans, especially German women after WWII… (two videos above cover it a little bit) and sadly, there are still too many people who believe they didn’t deserve it better…
Here are some articles about that…
The United States is the only country in our today’s industrialized world that still has no universal health care system, in comparison the oldest universal health care system is in Germany, which had its inception in 1883 under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (the most conservative of politicians btw.)
In December 2008 The McKinsey Global Institute issued an exhaustive 122-page report on health care costs in America, entitled “Accounting for the costs of US healthcare: A new look at why Americans spend more.”
http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/publications/healthcare.asp
Because I live in Germany I would like to tell you a little bit about our health care system that works now for more than one hundred years.
It is not the best available system but is still considered as one of the best health care system in the world. Well, I think I should go a little bit more into details….
Germany’s health care system consists of 252 public health insurance companies, which cover almost 90 percent of the population, about 73 million people. The other 10 percent – mostly high earners and the self-employed — are covered by private insurance plans.
Health policy is one of the most important fields of policy. It is equally important in the US as it is in Germany or anywhere else in the world. The health care system is a vital and highly sensitive sector of the economy. If it fails, not only the costs are growing for everyone, it will have effects on the economy in general.
In Germany, approximately 70 million out of a total population of 82 million people are covered by the social health insurance system, to which they pay a percentage of their wages and salaries as contributions… in short it is financed by a payroll tax.
The individual’s premium is not a per-capita levy, as it is in the United States. It is purely income-based. This article in the Washington Post explains it really well….
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/health-reform-without-a-public-plan-the-german-model/
“An employee’s non-working spouse is automatically covered by the employee’s premium. Unemployment insurance pays the premiums for unemployed individuals, and pension funds share with the elderly in financing their premiums, which are set below actuarial costs for the elderly.
Finally, premiums for children are covered by government out of general revenues, on the theory that children are not the human analogue of pets whose health care should be their owners’ (parents’) fiscal responsibility. Instead, children are viewed as national treasures whose health care should be the entire nation’s fiscal responsibility.
The health insurance premiums paid by Germans are collected in a national, government-run central fund that effectively performs the risk-pooling function for the entire system. This fund redistributes the collected premiums to some 200 independent, nongovernmental, competing, nonprofit “sickness funds” among which Germans can choose.
For example, if individual A chooses sickness fund X, then the central fund will give to fund X a capitation payment that uses over 80 variables to identify individual A’s actuarial risk. The same payment would be made for this individual to any other fund. Thus, the sickness funds in Germany only perform the third function mentioned above — acting as purchasing agents on behalf of the central fund and patients”
At present, employees pay an average around 7.5% of their salary for health insurance coverage, with their employers contributing 6.6%. In the German health care system, this means that those who earn less also pay less, whereas high-income earners pay more.
Children and non-employed spouses are co-insured free of charge. Health insurance is based on the principle of social solidarity but without a government-run health insurance plan like Medicare. This means that contributions are made according to financial abilities and people receive benefits that correspond to their needs.
Persons who earn more than $4,700 per month or are self-employed, can either stay in the social system on a voluntary basis or choose a private health insurance.
Insurance companies in Germany offer a comprehensive package of services. They cover, for instance, outpatient treatment and hospital treatment, all necessary medication, dental treatment, dental prostheses, as well as rehabilitation. In other words, whatever is necessary.
The principle is that the rich pay for the poor, the young for the old — the healthy for the sick. Blue and white-collar workers who earn less than $4,700 per month, are insured on a mandatory basis, as are persons who are out of work, pensioners, poor and homeless people. They are all covered in the statutory health insurance system according to the same provisions and enjoying equal access to health benefits and services.
Now, in both the United States and Germany, we face a common problem: Rising expenditure leads to higher contributions and thus to economic difficulties. Rising contribution rates lead to reduced real earnings. They raise the non-wage labor costs, weaken the investment capacity of enterprises and impair their competitiveness. In Germany, however, it is not only the employers who view rising health insurance expenses as an economic threat. Employees themselves are not happy either when their insurer raises their contribution rate or premium. After all, these increases eat away at their disposable net income and force them to cut down on other purchases.
Well, now think of all the millions people who have NO health insurances in the US….
The prerequisite, however, is that policymakers in Germany do not allow to be coopted by lobbyists.
As you can well imagine, there is no shortage of powerful health lobbyists in Washington or in Berlin. The pharmaceutical industry, in particular, spares neither costs nor efforts when it comes to influencing politicians.
So we will get the “electronic health card” at the end of this year I believe… (not sure here) Thanks to this card, every physician, doctor, hospital — anywhere in Germany — will have easy access to the health details of their patients and be able to avoid treatment errors. It goes without saying that the storage of these data will have to satisfy the most stringent security precautions.
Well, we will see… but all in all people here would never miss this system, even if we pay more…
As everything, also our health care system needs a reform. Time changed, the economy changed, everything changed… so a reform is necessary. But even if we need a reform our health care costs are still less than half of those in the US.
I know Americans who (although they have health care from the military) buy the German insurance, so they pay maybe 20-40 Euro per month but have EVERYTHING covered.
What Republicans and FAUX news, Rush and all the other idiots find so abhorrent with this is that large insurance companies and the medical health system, hospitals (corporations for profit), and doctors cannot get immediately rich by preying on sick people, the very people they claim to help, for riches. This is a concern to politicians since they received large sums of money from this industry.
Don’t get me wrong…I am all for making money. But most businesses make money when you use their product right?
Insurance companies in the US make money when you DON’T. Therefore they don’t want to pay your claims. Or they don’t want to cover anyone who might need coverage. This is the weakness in the for profit health insurance business and the reason the US has 47 million uninsured AND the reason that one in four WITH insurance file for bankruptcy every year.
This “for profit insurance” must have an end. Health care dollars MUST go for health care, not lobbiest and CEO’s bonuses.
Here is another great article, worth reading….
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3257/is_n1_v46/ai_11791915/
There is a lot of misinformation out there about our health care system… I wish more people were interested to know how it works in other countries. Even if our countries are different, maybe with different needs, but we do can learn from each other….
by Sen. Sherrod Brown and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse
source HufPost
“This morning, millions of people all over this country woke up hoping today isn’t the day they get sick. Millions of Americans went to work wondering whether today would be the last day they get paid in a while. And millions sat up late last night at the kitchen table, to try to balance the family budget as health care bills piled higher and higher.
Access to secure, affordable health care is one of the brightest lines dividing our country. When the system works, it’s at worst inconvenient. When it doesn’t – and too often, it doesn’t – it can leave families, businesses, whole communities devastated.
There has to be a better way. We have to do better than 47 million uninsured, and millions more teetering on the brink. We have to do better than 100,000 people dying each year from avoidable medical errors. America can do better than this.
That’s why for the past several weeks, Senate Democrats have worked hard to craft a sensible, comprehensive health care reform that will begin to reduce costs for families, businesses, and our government; protect people’s choice of doctors, hospitals and insurance plans; and offer affordable, high-quality health care for every American.
Our reform upholds President Obama’s promise: if you like the health care you have, you can keep it. But for the many Americans who want different choices – or don’t have health insurance at all – we also offer a new, public health insurance option. The Community Health Insurance Option will be a national plan, administered by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and available in every state and territory. It will offer benefits that are as good as those available through private insurance plans – or better. The Secretary will negotiate provider payment rates to encourage doctors and hospitals to participate, and individuals who need financial help purchasing coverage will receive it. Local advisory councils will assure the plan receives community input.
Overwhelmingly, Americans agree that healthy competition and a broad range of choices will help keep costs down and insurance plans honest. Our Community Health Insurance Option will be a clear, affordable alternative to for-profit insurance companies.
Your health insurer should be your advocate – not your adversary. The Community Health Insurance Option will invest in prevention, so that when you’re healthy you stay that way. It will invest in care management and coordination, when you have a chronic condition. And it will fight for you, not with you, to get you get the best possible care with the least possible hassle.
Some people will try to scare you into thinking that having a public option will drive all private health insurers out of the market. But we all know the truth: the only place the public option will drive private health insurers is back onto the straight and narrow. Your health insurer should never deny you coverage because you’ve had a heart condition. Your insurer should never carve out your diabetes from your coverage. Your insurer should never deny payment for the MRI they didn’t pre-authorize because in the haze of your breast cancer diagnosis, you hadn’t read the fine print.
They’ll also try to scare you into thinking that our plan will put the government between you and your doctor, and ration your care. The truth is just the opposite. Private insurance rations care by ability to pay – and puts insurance company bureaucrats between you and your doctor. Our plan rejects this failed system – because every American deserves the very best care, no matter what.
The HELP Committee’s plan is the right path for our country as we work to reform our health care system – and we look forward to the day when it’s available to millions of Americans desperately in need of comprehensive, low-cost, high-quality coverage. This should have happened long ago.
The writers are Democratic U.S. Senators representing Ohio and Rhode Island, respectively. They are members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.“
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This reminded me of a documentary I’ve seen a year ago on one of our TV channels about the volunteer organisation “Remote Area Medical” (RAM) that once started it’s roots in the Amazon and was founded in 1985 to provide medical care to some of the poorest and most remote areas of the world.
Stan Brock, the founder of this organization, dedicated his life to providing health care to remote regions on this planet after he spent over fifteen years in the Amazon rain forest witnessing tribes without modern day health care.
Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps is a non-profit, volunteer relief corps that provides free dental, eye and veterinary care to the underserved of the world. Volunteers collect supplies, medicine, facilities, and more. They travel as far as the Amazon jungles to assist those in need.
Right now RAM operates solely on the generosity of the American people and has no corporate sponsors. In fact, last year the organization survived on only $250,000 but treated 70,000 people in rural areas in the United States. Many of these areas have under-insured and impoverished people who were unable to obtain health care otherwise.
Most people (me included) find it a shock to see that conditions we would expect only in the darkest forests on the other side of the planet are in fact occurring every day in the United States. In fact, 60% of their services are provided in the United States.
For more information you can visit their website ….
http://www.ramusa.org/
http://www.ramusa.org/projects/ruralamerica.htm
The majority of those who come to the clinics have jobs, they simply cannot afford health care and although they work hard (sometimes more than 2 jobs) but rising medical costs and limited local dental and eye care force them to look to services such as RAM.
On a typical RAM expedition, health care specialists make a weekend trip to a specified area- usually setting up in a high school or other local venue. Upon arriving, the RAM team sets up dental care stations and eye exam stations, and sometimes provides routine medical tests such as pap smears and mammograms.
(this is not in Africa or South America, this is in the United States)
The clinics open early in the morning, patients get a ticket and are seen on a first-come, first-served basis. Those tickets are the only hope some people have of seeing a health clinician. Some have suffered multiple heart attacks but cannot afford follow-up visits to a doctor. Breast cancer survivors come to RAM clinics for mammograms that they can’t pay for. Some people arrive barely able to see until they receive a new pair of glasses, free thanks to RAM.
Long lines of people are waiting to see the doctors, nurses, and dentists but RAM usually cannot attend to everyone who comes to their mobile clinics…
Here are some videos…
and…. click on the picture below or go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/interactives/healingfields/
to watch the videos….
IT IS shocking to see that IS the current situation in the United States. In Germany we have universal health care and everyone (nearly everyone) is covered.
We don’t have the best health care system, it is getting more expensive for everyone but it works and the costs are by far not so high (we have nearly the half costs) than the costs in the US right now.
I would never want to miss it.
It saved my life and saved me from bancrupty. My sons had nearly 15 surgeries (broken legs, knee surgeries, sport accidents etc.) during the last 10 years and I could have never paid for it by myself.
Health care for all is a human right and I hope that Obama is able to make it work, so that these people in the videos above (and all the other 5 million Americans who are without health care) don’t have to “sit up late last night at the kitchen table, to try to balance the family budget as health care bills piled higher and higher.” (to quote Brown and Whitehouse) just because Big Pharma wants to make their money.
