Social Policy in Healthcare of Germany and France Essay - 1

Social Policy in Healthcare of Germany and France - Essay Example Apart from this, the essay will also discuss the key characteristics of the social policies with respect to the aforementioned two countries. On a further note, the essay will relate to the implications of the healthcare policies with respect to France and Germany. Furthermore, the social policy field i.e. healthcare would be analyzed from the perspective of two comparative perspectives i.e. convergence/functionality and path dependency/institutionalist. The healthcare policies are formulated with the sole intention of providing the society with better the  healthcare prospects. The approaches with respect to healthcare services generally include proper financing framework and effective governmental regulations (Mahmud & Parkhurst, 2007). In relation to determining the key characteristics of German healthcare system in recent years, it can be apparently observed that the system has undergone massive changes with the aim of developing the healthcare reforms and regulations. These changes being executed in an effective manner would certainly assist the government in reducing the ‘Spiralling costs’ that are associated with the healthcare reforms. In Germany, it has been often observed that the individuals who earn below â‚ ¬49,500 are usually provided with the benefit of ‘statutory health insurance scheme’ (SHI). Apart from the insurer, the SHI scheme provides coverage to the insurer’s dependence al so. Germany’s social insurance system was established in the year 1883. In this respect, there exist few principles related to health care policies in Germany. These principles being identified as solidarity, subsidiarity, and corporatism (Reibling, 2010) The principle of solidarity signifies taking responsibilities by the governments of helping the society at large in terms of indulging into the conduct of various initiatives. It is worth mentioning that these funds are basically financed through the payroll taxes.