Morbidity and Mortality of Statutory Versus Private Health Insurance Patients in Cardiac Surgery in Germany and a Critical Appraisal of the Current Health Insurance Situation

Background

In all, 90% of patients in Germany are insured with statutory (SHI) instead of private health insurance (PHI). PHI offers significantly better benefits including earlier and more comprehensive diagnosis and therapy, which can reduce the complication rate and even mortality in fields where patients with high morbidity are treated, yet data on potential outcome differences between SHI and PHI patients in Germany is scarce.