An increase in the prices of medical subscriptions reaching up to 80% year on year – this reality has affected everyone who seeks private medical care. However, there are still a lot of people interested in private medical appointments. Poles are looking for solutions that will reconcile high prices with the possibility of taking care of their health.
Interest is still high
The sale of health insurance policies and subscriptions continues to grow. Every tenth Pole already has the former. Subscriptions constitute at least twice as much – this is a trend that has been observed for several years. Failing public healthcare prompts the search for doctors in the private sector. In this case, the statistics do not lie – according to the Polish Chamber of Insurance (PIU), the number of people covered by private health insurance has increased by 10.6% during the year and reached
4.08 million at the end of the third quarter of 2022. The amount spent on private insurance policies was PLN 878.7 million – 12.45% more than in the previous year.
Prices go up
Statistics Poland (GUS) reported that private health services (including the prices of pharmaceutical products as well as therapeutic devices and equipment) were more expensive by 7.2% on average than in the previous year and by 6% – counted from January. However, the real scale of price increases took place in the third quarter of this year. In the case of private network healthcare facilities, the inflation can be seen in the prices of their most popular subscriptions. LUX MED’s flagship products – the Comprehensive Package and the Premium Package – increased by nearly 80% in October. A similar situation can be also observed in Enel-Med or Medicover. Wage and margin pressure means that despite growing revenues, private facilities must optimise their costs. And this will influence the increase of prices for patients. The basic operating costs of private facilities have increased by 15% only since the beginning of the year. “If we want to respond to the growing demand for services, maintain the highest standard of patient treatment, including treatment using modern solutions, by qualified and more numerous staff, we must consider increased expenditure on our activity, which translates into the valuation of services”, says Artur Białkowski, Business Services Director at Medicover Poland, in an interview for Gazeta Parkiet. The President of the Management Board of the LUX MED Group, Anna Rulkiewicz, mentions also that renegotiations with corporate clients are pending and some patients could have already felt the higher prices. She indicates, among others, that it is impossible now to keep the current rates of PLN 60-70 for a monthly subscription. It can be compared to the price of a single consultation, which can reach up to PLN 300.
Solution
Huge queues to specialists and often unsatisfactory quality of both services and facilities available under the National Health Fund insurance and, more and more often, in the private sector, prompt more and more people to seek private healthcare. Since subscription prices are raising, maybe it is wise to look for another solution? Purchasing a health insurance policy may be such a solution. This is a service offered by insurance companies. Unlike the subscription, it consists in covering the costs of medical services by the insurer when necessary. It will be useful, for example, in case of an accident. The scope of a health insurance policy depends on the variant proposed by the insurer. The policy may cover access to outpatient services (e.g. consultations with specialist doctors or diagnostic tests), payment of one-time benefits (usually based on submitted bills) in case of an illness or accident as well as hospital treatment (including reimbursement of hospital stay costs). The health insurance policy is individual in nature – as a rule, it differentiates the insured people according to their sex or age (this also determines the premium amount). For instance, the MediSky policy offers the widest health package and has increased by less than 10% in the last two years. It is a phenomenon not only in Poland but also in Europe.
