Voluntary health insurance in Europe

In the first half of the year, we took a closer look at the topic of voluntary health insurance in Europe and wrote an analysis consisting of two main parts.

The first theoretical part explains basic concepts, types of insurance and answers to questions that we often ask ourselves in connection with voluntary health insurance. For example, why people pay for voluntary health insurance, how many there are and who are they (individuals, employers, socially weaker or richer)? What different types of voluntary insurance are there and what role do they play in addressing the imperfections of the public health insurance system? What is the connection between voluntary  supplementary insurance and public insurance and what role do out-of-pocket payments play? What does the insurance market look like in Europe, who sells voluntary health insurance? How are these systems regulated? What are the risks of voluntary insurance in the context of the concept of universal health coverage?

In the second part, four different types of commercial markets are analyzed in more detail. We looked for common denominators in the development of these markets within Europe, as well as countries that can name as an example of good practice. In case of substitute insurance, we took a closer look at the largest German market with 8.7 million policyholders (10.4% of the population). Supplementary insurance allowing faster access to health care, better room equipment or a wider choice of health care provider is the most developed in Switzerland. In the case of complementary insurance covering user fees, we explained the functioning of the markets in France, Croatia and Slovenia, and in the case of complementary insurance covering healthcare outside the basic package (dentistry), the example of the Netherlands.

The analysis is available in slovak language.