Health
Insured people see deficiencies in the health system
According to a survey, many insured people see deficiencies in the healthcare system. photo
© Daniel Karmann/dpa
Every month a good chunk of your salary goes towards health insurance. But how satisfied are the insured with the services they receive in return?
Based on their own experiences, a significant proportion of insured people in this country see deficiencies in a survey Health system.
Most people are satisfied with the medical care in Germany, as shown by a representative survey commissioned by the Siemens company health insurance company. However, there are a significant proportion of people in many areas who have experienced deficits – for example in care, in the hospital or when looking for a pediatrician.
28 percent of the parents surveyed with children under the age of twelve had difficulty even finding a pediatrician’s practice that would look after their offspring. Almost a third (31 percent) have to wait unreasonably long for appointments, according to the results of the survey, which are available to the German Press Agency in Munich. Of the adults surveyed themselves, 30 percent said they had not been able to get an appointment at a general practitioner or specialist practice quickly enough, despite the appropriate urgency.
Further results of the survey
According to the survey, one in four people (24 percent) do not believe that the often life-saving emergency care in their own region is guaranteed. As many as 35 percent of those who have ever been in need of care or have cared for someone were not satisfied with the outpatient or inpatient care facilities. Another two percentage points more were unable to find a place in a nursing home or a nursing service quickly enough.
It is also annoying that 26 percent of all those surveyed said that the same examinations were carried out again at short intervals because results such as blood counts or X-rays were not passed on from one practice to another. Of those in need of care, more than half (54 percent) had such double examinations. Nevertheless, 77 percent of those surveyed were overall satisfied with their medical practices.
What is striking is that this level of satisfaction increases with the net income of households. According to the survey, only 71 percent of those with low incomes of up to 1,000 euros are satisfied with their treating practices, but 83 percent of those with at least 4,000 euros are satisfied. This group also states significantly more often than the average of those surveyed (72 to 63 percent) that they can get an appointment in a reasonable time if there is an urgent need.
The market research institute YouGov 2022 surveyed people aged 18 and over for the online survey on behalf of the Siemens company health insurance company SBK, based in Heidenheim. The results of the survey from July 19th to 21st were weighted and are said to be representative of the adult population in Germany.