Before looking at the reimbursement system for medical devices in Germany, one has to be conscious of the market for medical devices in Europe and in Germany. The German market with DM21bn is by far the biggest market in Europe (total: DM60bn estimated turnover in 1998), and therefore also a market of high interest to others. It is twice as big as the market in France, three times as big as the Italian market, and four times as big as the market in the UK.
These four states (Germany, France, Italy and the UK) together represent three-quarters of the total European medical device market.
