By Joseph Q. Jarvis | Published: 8 May 2026
I spent part of my last day in Germany in the UNESCO Heritage City of Baden Baden on the north end of the Black Forest. Baden Baden had its heyday in the late 19th Century with the Belle Epoch period. People from all over Europe and beyond would come to this beautiful corner of the world to heal, rest, relax, and have fun. The initial draw was the hot springs, known since Roman times. But eventually beautiful homes and palaces, hotels, gardens, allees, and public event places were built, and still stand. There is a wonderful concert house, and a smart looking casino. To get a flavor for this special place, take a look at my pictures below.
Also beginning in Germany in the late 19th Century, and the first of its kind anywhere, was the social health insurance system, which still operates today. Under Otto von Bismarck, there was a commitment to solidarity within society to every person no matter their income. So, while the wealthy were assembling to play at Baden Baden every summer, they were also contributing to the care of all German patients, sick or injured, because no society should leave anyone behind when it comes to the need for health care.
This social insurance system is today 2/3 in the public sector and 1/3 funded privately. But the care is virtually all delivered privately. There is apparently a debate ongoing in Germany about whether the 93 sickness funds (the total of all plans both public and private) are being efficiently administered. I looked into this debate while in Germany, thinking that perhaps it might be the case that excess administrative costs plague the German health care system like they do the health care system in the United States. After all, Germany has the second most expensive health care in the world, albeit substantially less than medical expenditures per person per year in the US ($15,000/peron/year in the US vs. $9,000/person/year in Germany).
The overall administrative cost in Germany for public health plans is, however, only 3.9%. For private plans, it is 3.16%. Compared to the whopping 30% administrative cost of US health insurance this is just a drop in the bucket. German health care runs with the administrative efficiency of traditional Medicare and Medicaid in the US, meaning Medicare without the “Advantage” of for-profit health insurance and Medicaid without the “Management” of for profit HMOs.
Wherever I look in the first world of wealthy nations, I find health care systems that assure financing for care for all citizens at a much lower cost than in the US and with much better quality and outcomes. We in the US are allowing the medical industrial complex to steal our vast health care funds, both tax based and out of pocket, while providing us with little benefit and often no care. Just like in Germany, better simpler care in the US could be fairly financed for all at a much reduce cost.
So, in this election year, YOU NEED TO FIGHT FOR YOUR FAMILY’S HEALTH CARE!!!
Go to View source at utahcares.health and buy a book about the health care system. Or watch Healing US, the documentary about what’s wrong with American health care. Then ask me to come and teach you and your neighbors about what can be done. Read the Utah Cares Act and see how health care can be improved for all of us. And then DONATE to the fight to end for profit health care financing in the United States.
Many thanks.
Dr. Joseph Q. Jarvis is a public health physician, chair of the Utah Cares Political Issue Committee and author of several books, including The Purple World: Healing the Harm in American Health Care and What the Single Eye Sees: Faith, Hope, Charity, and the Pursuit of Discipleship.