While some countries might have similar sorts of political systems, it is also true that the lived experience of people in different countries can be markedly different. In America, for instance, individuals often claim to enjoy great freedom. This is true to some extent, but how does it compare to the way a person lives in Germany? One of the ways to compare two countries is by looking at the ways in which different areas of life are de-commodified. Just how dependent upon the market are the things that help to make life worth living for people in these countries? In this regard, the average person living in Germany enjoys a much different experience than the average person who calls the United States home. The German medical system is more de-commodified than the American system, even after the Affordable Care Act was passed and signed by President Obama. Looking at pensions, a person in Germany enjoys a moderate level of de-commodification, with the country employing a hybrid system where part of the social security system is publicly funded and not invested, while significant portions are private and are invested. In the US, a similar system reigns, with Social Security not being tied to the markets, but most people relying on real retirement money that is dependent upon the performance of the marketplace. In Germany, new family policy reforms make it so that receiving benefits after childbirth is less dependent upon the market and more in-line with some of the examples from Sweden and elsewhere. American policies make it so that the market is reinforced. There has been some movement toward paid leave and other payment replacement, but this has not been a focus area of American politics to this point, so the reforms have struggled in some respects to take hold. In general, the life of a person in Germany is different than the life of a person in the US, though there are some parallels in how things play out.
On healthcare, a German person would enjoy a much more de-commodified healthcare system. Specifically, a German person’s healthcare would not be nearly as tied to the whims of the marketplace. Germany has for a while employed a national healthcare system emblematic of much of Europe. The country’s leaders have put into place a system in which 77-percent of the costs are roughly paid by the government. While it is not complete single payer healthcare like some countries of Scandinavia, the leadership in Germany have taken significant measures to ensure that people have the opportunity that they need to get healthcare, regardless of what happens in the market. Germany features a statutory sickness fund that all citizens under a certain income range are required to enroll in. A person working in Germany and making less than 50,000 euros would be enrolled in this program, which would be paid through some combination of employee and employer contributions. Perhaps most importantly, the German government negotiates with insurance providers to ensure that rates stay as low as they can possibly stay. This helps to keep the costs low for German citizens. People making more money have the opportunity to purchase private insurance plans in addition to the sickness funds. These private insurance plans are typically subsidized by employers as a benefit of working in that particular job.

America has taken some steps toward helping people get health insurance. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, there is now a tax penalty applied to people who do not have some form of health insurance. The Act provides subsidies for people with low incomes to purchase insurance through a marketplace. While these subsidies help to de-commodify the health insurance industry for these individuals, people with larger incomes are still at the whims of the health insurance providers and how much they want to charge, even though the marketplaces. While there are some rules placed upon insurance providers in order to de-commodify the marketplace, there are not rules on how much they can charge. There are only rules on when they can reject coverage and some rules forcing them to abandon their lifetime coverage caps. Germany enjoys far more de-commodification of healthcare, as the market is reinforced for much of the American public, even with the new law.

In terms of pensions, a German citizen currently enjoys some level of de-commodification, while Americans enjoy a hybrid system that makes pensions both commodified and de-commodified. Specifically, Germans are provided with something very similar to the American social security system. In the German arrangement, the social insurance program is not tied to the whims of the market. It is a payment in-payment out type of arrangement, where the newer payers tend to pay the older payers in turn. Specifically, this is an arrangement where the payments to the average German citizen are not based upon the whims of the market. However, there are some supplemental pension plans in the country that do rely on the good will of the market, so that people’s retirement is based at least in part on the ability of the market to produce returns.

The American system does provide social security payments to people who reach the age of 65. These payments are not based upon the movements of the market. The money is not invested, and in fact, the system is funded largely like the German system. Younger workers pay in so that older workers can receive their payments in retirement. In reality, though, the American system relies more on the markets. Most people do not retire just on social security unless they are poor. Many people have 401(k) and IRA funds that are built up with contributions from themselves and their employers over time. With these systems in place, the commodification of pensions is very much an issue. When the markets failed in 2008 and 2009, many people lost a lot of money. This caused major problems for those individuals. Likewise, there have been some pushes in the United States to commodify social security even further by making it private, which would put it at the whims of the private market.

On family care, the average person in Germany enjoys a system that is slowly moving toward an incentive framework. Increasingly, the government in Germany is providing people with payment incentives for missed time at work when they have to leave to have kids or raise kids. This is not nearly as generous a framework as one would find elsewhere in Europe, where incomes are more guaranteed for longer periods of time. However, there has been more political movement and support for policies that provide people with much more security in this regard.

In America, the market is reinforced with the family law. Companies are allowed to do mostly what they want in regard to pay for leave when one needs to have a child. Many companies provide paid time off for women, and some provide paid time off for men. Still, the time frames are short, and the markets are very much involved. America is looking to move more toward de-commodification, providing people with paid leave when they are in this situation. Unfortunately the country has not quite made it to this point in the way that would compare favorably to Germany, though.