[Health care systems and aspects of health care economics. Sector ophthalmology - part 1: development of the German health care system].

Although many health care reforms have been enacted in the last few years in Germany, many of the key points in the current social health care system have been retained from former times. All those introductions for an effective health care system from the last 150 years beginning with mandatory guild membership via Bismarck's social laws to the modern health care systems in Germany with the current problems of financing the heavy burden in the German budget are reported. Data and facts on the current health care system are provided. In the following two articles of this series ambulatory and inpatient treatment in the light of economic aspects of health care are reported.