Shepherding major health system reforms: a conversation with German health minister Ulla Schmidt. Interview by Tsung-Mei Cheng and Uwe Reinhardt.

Americans looking for role models among foreign health systems may find Germany's, along with the Dutch system, of particular interest. These countries seek to harvest the power of competition among nongovernmental insurers and providers of health care within a unifying regulatory framework aimed at keeping the competition fair and preserving for health care, as much as is possible, Europe's hallowed Principle of Solidarity. In this interview, conducted on behalf of Health Affairs by Tsung-Mei Cheng and Uwe Reinhardt, Germany's long-serving minister of health, Ulla Schmidt, explains what ethical and economic imperatives have shaped Germany's health reforms in recent years.