Mar 30 2016
By
B. Rose Huber
Source
Woodrow Wilson School
On March 14, 2016, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (German Association of Health Economics) awarded Uwe Reinhardt its Gerard Gäfgen Medal, presented to individuals who’ve made extraordinary contributions to the development of health economics in Germany.
Reinhardt also is the 2010 recipient of the Bundesverdienstkreuz—the Federal Cross of Merit—awarded by then federal health minister Ulla Schmidt on behalf of the President of the German Federal Republic in honor of Reinhardt’s contributions to the development of German health policy.
Over the years, Reinhardt has been an active member of a small group of health economists convened by the Bosch Foundation at biannual colloquia to help establish a literature for the development of courses in health economics at German universities. Subsequently, he participated actively in the debate on German health policy, specifically to plead with Germans not to let a “certain budding enthusiasm” for a U.S.-style market approach to health care destroy the admirable ethical core of Germany’s health care system – the “principle of social solidarity,” which to this day drives German health policy.
In 2014, Reinhardt received the Presidential Prize from the president of the Republic of China in Taipei, Taiwan, for Reinhardt’s contribution to the development of Taiwan’s health policy over the years. For example, in 1989, as Taiwan was exploring alternative approaches to universal health insurance coverage, Reinhardt persuaded Taiwan’s policy makers to start out with an easily manageable single-payer health insurance system, modeled on the Canadian provincial plans, with a financing mechanism modeled more on the German system. In principle, such a scheme could easily be converted to other forms of health insurance, including U.S.-style insurance, but, in the ensuing two decades, Taiwan stayed with its single-payer approach, now widely regarded as a model for emerging markets.
Other awards that Reinhardt has received are listed below.
- 2010: The William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research. This is the highest distinction that researchers in the health services field can achieve.
- 2011: Honorary Doctorate, Drexel University
- 2013: The Outstanding Leadership in Health Care Award, The National institute of Healthcare Management
- 2014: The New York Academy of Medicine Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Health Policy, The New York Academy of Medicine in 2014; and
- 2014: The Nursing Spectrum/Gannett Foundation Leadership Award, American Association of Colleges of Nursing
“Over the years, I have seen these awards as personal matters, but the Wilson School asked me to finally share,” Reinhardt said. “I am proud and happy to receive these honors but also humbled by them. You always ask: why me?”