More and more Hungarians opt for private healthcare
The roots of Hungarian health insurance stretch back to the 15th century when miners formed mutual assistance funds to benefit the infirmed. Later, in the 19th century, Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph I introduced universal health insurance for industry workers. The National Health Insurance Fund and citizen taxes fund the public healthcare system nowadays. It offers services such as medical and dental treatment, medicine, hospital care, preventive testing, and medical appliances, to mention a few.Despite the free accessibility of healthcare services, a significant share of the country’s population chooses private healthcare providers due to long waiting lists in public hospitals and differences in service quality. In 2023, private healthcare usage was the most common among Hungarians aged between 35 and 44 years old, as approximately half of the age group had used private healthcare services within the past two years. When it comes to the total population, around 40 percent of them used private healthcare over the same time. Of the long list of private healthcare providers patients can choose from, TritonLife Csoport recorded the highest revenue in 2022, reaching 17.5 billion forints.
Hospital debts are soaring
Constant hospital debt prevails as the biggest problem in the country’s healthcare system leading to postponing surgeries and other inevitable treatments. The growing indebtedness of healthcare institutions relies on multiple factors, such as the insufficient funding of certain services and low investment volume. As of April 2023, the debt of institutions providing hospital services totaled nearly 52 billion forints, marking a significant increase compared to the preceding months.The number of hospitals has followed a decreasing trend in the country over the past two decades, reaching 161 institutions in 2021, compared to 182 recorded in the peak years of 2006 and 2007. The negative developments in the Hungarian healthcare sector are also reflected in the number of general practitioners and pediatricians per 10,000 population, as by 2022 their number decreased to six compared to 6.5 registered in 2010.
