In countries with universal healthcare insurance, why does healthcare insurance exist? (because everyone pays the same price)
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Universal healthcare systems don’t necessarily cover everything. Basically, people take out private health cover so they’re covered for more than what the public health system covers.
Australia for one has what is referred to as a ‘two-tiered’ system. There is a public system, which everyone can access, and a private system, which is generally only used by people who pay extra for private health insurance because it would cost too much otherwise.
Every citizen here gets Medicare* from the government. This covers a lot of things but not everything. You can for example go to the emergency room at a public hospital and it won’t cost you a thing, but a lot of other things are only partially subsidised, and some things aren’t covered at all. For example, I went to the GP this week and Medicare covered about half the fee.
*This is very different to the Medicare that exists in the US. It just has the same name.
Health services are enormously complicated and varied. Government funded plans are usually limited usually by resources – and those resources are deployed to give maximum population coverage not necessarily maximum service quality. There are many dimensions to “quality”.
Things like cosmetic/plastic/reconstructive surgery, for example, capture things between necessary surgery (eg burn victims, congenital defects) to more elective procedures (profiling the nose etc). So public health care must be targeted.
People are equally complicated. Many might be completely fine with general care others may desire better services (lower wait times, better access to specialist care providers, better wards etc). Those who wish for this better service and have the means to pay for it constitutes a demand. Private insurance companies can fill this demand and be profitable.
If you’re familiar with US insurance, it’s sort of like if the universal coverage was an HMO plan, but there is the option to upgrade to the PPO with supplemental private insurance. This gets additional benefits like priority appointments with specialists, private hospital rooms, travel coverage if out of the country, and other such benefits depending on country and plan chosen.
The answer depends on the country: in some countries health insurance literally doesn’t exist.
In those where it does though, it’s typically optional and covers things like:
– Treatments that are not covered by the universal system (eg. optical and/or dental in some countries, chiropractic, cosmetic treatments etc.)
– Treatment in private hospitals (as opposed to public hospitals). They may offer nicer rooms or shorter wait lists or the like.
– Other perks like included gym membership or diet consultations etc.
In some countries, purchasing private health insurance may also offer you a small discount on your taxes (since you are reducing the burden on the public system by having private coverage).
It depends on the country.
Example: I currently live in Belgium, and twisted my ankle. The state system meant I needed to pay 15 euros to go to the ER, have an X ray, etc.
Private insurance would cover the cost of, say, needing to take taxis or a bus to work, or other things that are beyind what a doctor can do.
In some countries universal healthcare needs you to wait months, and sometimes years, for treatment, depending on doctors and equipment. With private health insurance (or cash), you can get the same things done after days or weeks of waiting.
Universal health care is different in every country. I live in Germany, we have to get a health insurance, but that’s the “universal” one. We have two choices, public and private, we have to choose one. Public is expensive when you are young but it stays the same price, and if your wife is not working is covered by your police with no extra payment, same with the kids. Private one is purely based on risk, so it is cheap when you are young and healthy but very expensive when you are old, and you pay more for wife and kids.
Michael Moore made that “documentary” about universal healthcare and made many people think it is for free, which is “true” in some countries, but it is actually paid with taxes (i.e. NHS). We pay for our family around 1200 EUR a month in the public system.
Malaysia: Under our version of Universal Heathecare, you get access to all the goverment clinics & hospital at little to no cost. If you take up insurance, you get other additional coverage (some have payout if you missed work, extra money if you are seriously injured etc.). Usually people who can afford private insurance do so because they can now go to private clinic & hospital. Less wait time, better facilities depending on which private hospital, it might be waaaaay more comfortable and perhaps better access to specialist.
If you mean other insurance besides what’s covered in the general insurance – many reasons.
Access to better facilities and/or shorter waiting period.
Coverage for things that the general system won’t cover (for example if for the same condition there is a good enough and cheaper solution vs. The more expensive and better solution).
Other things like covering lost income.
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