Private Financing of Health Care in Poland – Microsimulation Model

Abstract

Health care is a key sector of every economy and is of grate medical, social, and economical importance to all citizens. It is also one of the most diverse sectors in the world, especially in the aspect of financing. In Poland health care is mostly public funded. However due to system’s inefficiency new policies are discussed, some of which include various methods of co-payment. Popularisation of currently uncommon private medical insurance, either supplementary or complementary to public financing, are one of the proposed solutions. The main goal of this paper is to present health econometric micro simulation model of households’ medical expenses in Poland. Model is based on individual household panel data considering private funding of health care and willingness-to-pay for private medical insurance. It is to be used to forecast future situation depending on various funding reform proposals. This research is to prove usefulness of micro simulations in assessing health care police, which is of currently of major importance in Poland.