What major innovations and reforms have been introduced?
During what is known as the 2011 health reform, four acts were introduced between 2010 and 2012. In 2010, the
SHI Financing Act was enacted into law; although conversion to a new model of financing for SHI has not yet
happened, this act is a step toward per-capita flat-rate financing of SHI. It legislated 1) the setting of a uniform
contribution rate by law, rather than by the federal government; 2) the supplementary insurance premium,
which individual sickness funds can impose if necessary, and which is no longer limited to 1 percent of the
income of a member; and 3) the introduction of socioeconomic adjustment, paid into the health care fund as a
federal subsidy, to protect members with lower incomes from excessive financial burdens.
The 2011 health care reform also involved extensive changes for the pharmaceutical sector. The SHI Reform Act
of 2010 and the Pharmaceuticals Market Reform Act of 2011 both provide structural changes and anticipated
savings over a defined period of time. The SHI Reform Act has obliged pharmaceutical manufacturers to give a
discount of 16 percent (previously 6%) on all drugs that are not subject to a reference price; prices have been frozen
at the August 2009 level until the end of 2013.
The final major piece of legislation for health care reform was passed in December 2011: the SHI Care Structure
Act consists of a number of measures with the common objective of improving provision of services