THE dynamics of healthcare funding in Europe is changing. As governments review their options to meet growing healthcare demands with limited resources, the potential to combine cost reduction with new funding sources will gain support in many countries. Reimbursement decisions in the public sector are becoming increasingly tougher for pharmaceutical and diagnostic manufacturers; the private market offers a potential alternative route to gaining market access. Private insurers currently play differing roles in European national healthcare systems. A new report, "The private health insurance market in Europe: Future trends, emerging opportunities and key players", reviews their role in the major European markets and provides an insight into trends in their coverage of health benefits and products. It highlights selected product areas where private insurance could fill the gaps in public reimbursement. An insight into the European private insurance industry, including overall trends and profiles of leading insurers, provides an indication of future developments within the sector and highlights potential opportunities for pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies to work with private insurers. Key findings from the report are: there are over 84 million Europeans with some form of private health insurance. Germans account for the largest proportion of the privately insured population, with 22.3 million, followed by the Dutch with 16.2 million; healthcare benefits paid by private insurers account for eight percent of total European healthcare expenditure, a share that is on course to increase as public payors redefine their benefits package; the cost of medicines accounts for a significant proportion of private insurers costs in most markets. Around 93 percent of the French population has complementary health insurance to cover costs not reimbursed by the social health insurance system, with 30 percent of insurers costs going towards the cost of medicines; private insurers provide comprehensive health cover to 10.5 percent of Germans and almost all the population of the Netherlands and Switzerland. Voluntary insurance also plays a significant role in these markets to complement and supplement the statutory benefit package; and, France has the highest density of private health insurers at 893, whereas the industry is concentrated among relatively few players in most other markets - there are 46 insurers in Germany, 30 in the Netherlands and 27 in the UK.
News-Medical.Net, 27 May 2010
