Private healthcare more popular than national in Hungary

Five facts about the problems with Hungarian national healthcare: The situation is getting worse quickly, says Forbes.hu.

“Is it blooming? It is booming!” as Forber wrote a year ago, based on the data about private healthcare services from 2014. According to the most recent survey of Szinapszis Market Research, the market increased significantly between 2014 and 2016, and the reputation of national healthcare fell greatly. They drew five (plus one) main consequences from the survey among people from Budapest.

1. Even the doctors doubt that patients are safe

Let us begin with the most surprising data: only 21 percent of the doctors thought that their patients were among safe circumstances during the last hospital or clinical treatment. It is not because the doctors did not do all they could for their safety, but they could not guarantee it because of the state of national healthcare.

Laic patients were much more optimistic, a greater number of them (55%) claimed that they felt totally safe during their treatment.

2. If I must pay anyway, I rather do it privately and not in the form of gratuities

At least this is the attitude that is reflected in the survey according to the question concerning private services. The waiting lines are long in the state system, and gratuities are needed to be paid for the proper treatment, but private services are worth their extra payment. The only problem is that while we pay the private doctor we also have to pay the social-security contribution. However, the majority still agrees that they pay for the national health insurance funds in order to avoid paying twice elsewhere.

3. Almost half of the patients are disappointed with the information services

The information about diseases and therapies, the waiting time, the time spent with the treatment are all issues with which patients are less satisfied in the case of national healthcare. The situation has been already poor two years ago, but decay is significant on all fronts. For example, only 42 percent of the patients are satisfied with the time spent with the treatment in national healthcare. No wonder that it is one of the main reasons why so many people choose private services. The survey also revealed that patients would expect 24 minutes of the doctor’s time per patient, and almost every second patient feels that they do not get this from national healthcare. It is an important aspect especially among young people (18-35).

4. The rights of the patients are more important

It is an interesting question whether patients find difference between state and private services from the aspect of law. Most of them are either not able to judge or do not notice any differences. However, those who have a certain opinion claim that the rights of the patients are more respected in the private sector.

5. Many people find it useless to pay contributions to the state

It is an eloquent data that of all the people who are attending private institutions occasionally, 47 percent would gladly cease to pay national health insurance contribution. More exactly, they would only pay the compulsory minimum of 6930 forints and never use national services again. Another 32 percent tend to pay for private services alongside the current contribution, and only 21 said that they would stick to national healthcare and paying health insurance contribution.

+1. It is not the privilege of the rich anymore

It is not necessarily a reason but rather a consequence, the result of many reasons, some of them mentioned above. 49 percent of residents of Budapest used private services in 2014, and this number increased to 60 percent in 2016. It is a quite great difference in merely two years. And it is also an obvious proof for the fact that private doctors, hospitals and clinics are not even the privileges of the richest layers.

Ce: bm

Source: Szinapszis Piackutató Kft., Forbes.hu