The national healthcare system in Germany to a large extent is based on a command economy. The number of licenses for psychotherapists - in fact, for any kind

The national healthcare system in Germany to a large extent is based on a command economy. The number of licenses for psychotherapists - in fact, for any kind of physician - allowed to bill through the national healthcare system is artificially constrained (not unlike the taxi medallion system in New York, for example) by regional authorities for statutory health insurance physicians ("Kassenärztliche Vereinigungen"). This can create artificial scarcity for specific kinds of medical professions, such as psychotherapists in this case.