Private health coverage will eventually offer opportunities for private insurers
"The possibility is huge," said Simon Hollowood, project manager for BUPA International in London. Poles are already paying a lot in the public sector to receive health care and there is no strong national health service, he added. "I don't see the jump to spending several hundred dollars on a health insurance product as that big of an issue. The question is when," Hollowood said. "For private health insurance as we know it in Western Europe and the United States you've got the seeds of it there. It will grow depending on what happens in health reform and what happens in terms of development of private facilities and private services. "No one has insurance because there was nothing in the past to be insured for," Hollowood added.
"The slow development of private services both in the public and private sector in Poland means that the opportunities for private health insurance are constrained."
International insurers present here also believe a market for private coverage will grow, but it will take time. Allianz is considering private health insurance in the future, however, it will wait until legal details are sorted out before moving ahead, said Marek Baran, a spokesman for the company's marketing and public relations department.
"In Poland there isn't any government permission for this kind of insurance," he added.
Currently, government health insurance covers basic medical care and services such as hospitalization. But Patients Funds officials said that eventually there would have to be a division of what basic care covers and what services are paid for by a patient. They said this would be necessary because the system does not have enough funds to cover all procedures. Many now pay for services at private hospitals. These fees are an area where private insurers could find opportunity.
At Centrum Medyczne Damiana in Warsaw, more than 80% of patients are Poles, only about 10% of the clinic's patients are covered by a direct agreement with a company and less then 2% fall under private insurance agreements. The remainder pay individually for the services they receive.
"I think it's the next step to come," said Dr. Marek Ploszczynski, managing director at Damian. "The question is when."
For the moment, private health insurers have focused on the expatriate market. Since the fall of communism 10 years ago, Eastern Europe has become more of a center for expats needing health coverage because they are unable to obtain the same level of health care they receive in their home country, said Doug Polifron, director of New York International Group, an affiliate of International Medical Group (IMG).
"A person would come there and say 'Oh my God, what if something happens to me,'" he added. But such companies don't see a ready market among local customers.
"The people in those regions are not used to spending money for health care and it's probably going to take a while to change that," Polifron said. "You have doctors making $400 per month, how are they supposed to afford a program for $100 a month?"
PPP Healthcare also targets the expat market and does not plan to step into the local health insurance arena, said Graham Trueman, marketing manager for PPP.
"The slow development of private services both in the public and private sector in Poland means that the opportunities for private health insurance are constrained."
International insurers present here also believe a market for private coverage will grow, but it will take time. Allianz is considering private health insurance in the future, however, it will wait until legal details are sorted out before moving ahead, said Marek Baran, a spokesman for the company's marketing and public relations department.
"In Poland there isn't any government permission for this kind of insurance," he added.
Currently, government health insurance covers basic medical care and services such as hospitalization. But Patients Funds officials said that eventually there would have to be a division of what basic care covers and what services are paid for by a patient. They said this would be necessary because the system does not have enough funds to cover all procedures. Many now pay for services at private hospitals. These fees are an area where private insurers could find opportunity.
At Centrum Medyczne Damiana in Warsaw, more than 80% of patients are Poles, only about 10% of the clinic's patients are covered by a direct agreement with a company and less then 2% fall under private insurance agreements. The remainder pay individually for the services they receive.
"I think it's the next step to come," said Dr. Marek Ploszczynski, managing director at Damian. "The question is when."
For the moment, private health insurers have focused on the expatriate market. Since the fall of communism 10 years ago, Eastern Europe has become more of a center for expats needing health coverage because they are unable to obtain the same level of health care they receive in their home country, said Doug Polifron, director of New York International Group, an affiliate of International Medical Group (IMG).
"A person would come there and say 'Oh my God, what if something happens to me,'" he added. But such companies don't see a ready market among local customers.
"The people in those regions are not used to spending money for health care and it's probably going to take a while to change that," Polifron said. "You have doctors making $400 per month, how are they supposed to afford a program for $100 a month?"
PPP Healthcare also targets the expat market and does not plan to step into the local health insurance arena, said Graham Trueman, marketing manager for PPP.
