FAQ

The short story of co-payments for health care services in Hungary – lessons for neighbouring countries

Publication date: 2010

Public Health and Governance, 2010, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 37 - 47

Authors

,
Petra Baji
Department of Health Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Department of Health Services Research; CAPHRI, Maastricht University Medical Center; Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2899-8557 Orcid
All publications →
,
Imre Boncz
University of Pécs; Pécs, Dohány u. 1-3, 7622 Hungary
All publications →
,
György Jenei
Department of Health Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
All publications →
László Gulácsi
Department of Health Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9285-8746 Orcid
All publications →

Titles

The short story of co-payments for health care services in Hungary – lessons for neighbouring countries

Abstract

The introduction of co-payments for using health care services is a relatively new issue for most of the Central-Eastern European (CEE) countries. Some CEE countries, like Slovakia, Hungary and Czech Republic have similar experiences with the introduction of such co-payments. These fees were met with a cold reception by the population and also political resistance, which led to the abolishment of these payments in Slovakia as well as in Hungary.
Our paper focuses on the experiences of Hungary, where co-payments for health care services were introduced in February, 2007 and abolished one year later as a result of a population referendum. Hungarian experiences can serve as a lesson for policy makers from other CEE countries to develop sustainable patient payment policies.

References

Hall D., Healthcare: rejection of privatisation and patient fees in Central Europe. PSIRU, London 2009.

Cockcroft A., Andersson N., Paredes-Solis S., Caldwell D., Mitchell S., Milne D., Merhi S., Roche M., Konceviciute E., Ledogar R.J., An inter-country comparison of unofficial payments: results of a health sector social audit in the Baltic States. „BMC Health Serv. Res.” 2008; 8: 15.

Pavlova M., Groot W., van Merode G., Public attitudes towards patient payments in Bulgarian public health care sector: results of a household survey. „Health Policy” 2002; 59: 1–24.

Pazitny P., Szalay T., The Left-Wing and the User Fees in the Health Sector Into Balance. „Health Policy Institute” 2006; 1: 1.

Kossarova L., Mad’arová L.H., Czech Republic: First steps on the path to health care reform. „EuroHealth” 2008; 14: 13–5.

Treaty of European Union. Official Journal 1992;

Convergence Programme of Hungary 2006–2010. Government of the Republic of Hungary, 2006, http://www1.pm.gov.hu/web/home.nsf/portalarticles/8E02BBDFAEA7D5E2C12572410042487C/$File/Convergence%20program%202006%20Dec_en.pdf, 28.10.2010.

Kövi R., Kőrösi L., Sebestyén A., Ágoston I., Nagy Z., Kriszbacher I., Oláh A., Molnár A., Péntek M., Boncz I., The effect of the withdrawal of visit fee on the number of patient-visits to outpatient care departments in Hungary. „Value Health” 2009; 12: A85–A86.

Boncz I., Sebestyen A., Financial deficits in the health services of the UK and Hungary. „The Lancet” 2006; 368: 917–918.

OECD. OECD Health Data. 2010.

Hungarian health care system in brief. Ministry of Health, The Republic of Hungary, 2009.

http://www.eski.hu/new3/adatok_en/zip_doc/Hungarian%20health%20care%20system%202009.pdf, 28.10.2010.

Vas G., Imhof G., Ágoston I., Vas B., Betlehem J., Kresák G., Endrei D., Zemplényi A., Boncz I., A 2007. április 1-jei egészségügyi reformintézkedések hatása az összes kórházi ágyszámra. Egészségügyi Gazdasági Szemle 2009: 5–11.

Ministry of Helath, A Magyar Egészségügy Zöld Könyve. Egészségügyi Minisztérium, 2006, http://www.magyarorszag.hu/zoldkonyv/, 28.10.2010.

Csaba I., A magyar egészségügy Zöld könyve, 2006 Áttekintés és kommentár. „Kormányzás Közpénzógyek Szabályozás” 2007; 2: 3–36.

Pásztélyi Z., Weltner J., Csaba I., A zöld könyv értékelése: kiigazítások és valós kérdésfelvetések. IME 2006; 5: 5–12.

TÁRKI. Társadalmi klíma riport. TÁRKI Társadalomkutatási Intézet, 2007, http://www.tarki.hu/hu/news/2007/kitekint/20071220.html, 28.10.2010.

Kőrösi L., Kövi R., Varga S., Sebestyén A., Kriszbacher I., Betlehem J., Brodszky V., Kárpáti K., Molnár A., Boncz I., Effect of the introduction of visit fee on the number of visits to general practitioners in Hungary. „Value Health” 2009; 12.

Mihályi P., A vizitdíj első éve. Népszabadság. Budapest 2008. http://www.stud.u-szeged.hu/szttsz/HU_Vizitdij_elso_eve.pdf, 28.10.2010.

Boncz I., Nagy J., Kőrösi L., Kövi R., Molnár A., Kiss Z., Kriszbacher I., Varga S., Sebestyén A., The effect of the introduction of visit fee on the number of patient-visits to outpatient care departments in Hungary. „Value Health” 2008; 11: A368–A369.

Nagy J., Kövi R., Sebestyen A., Kiss Z., Molnár A., Kőrösi L., Kriszbacher I., Betlehem J., Boncz I., The effect of the introduction of hospital daily fee on the number of admissions to acute care hospital wards Hungary. „Value Health” 2008; 11.

Sinkó E., Az egészségügy 2008-ban: bukott reformkísérlet után II. IME 2009; 8: 5–11.

Boncz I., Kövi R., Kőrösi L., Vas G., Varga S., Kriszbacher I., Betlehem J., Gulácsi L., Molnár A., Sebestyén A., The effect of the withdrawal of hospital daily fee on the number of admissions to acute care hospital wards in Hungary. „Value Health” 2009; 12:A85.

A vizitdíj és a napidíj első éve. Ministry of Health, 2008. http://www.eum.hu/archivum/finanszirozasi/vizitdij-napidij-elso, 28.10.2010.

MEDIÁN. Nyugtával dicsérik?2008. http://www.median.hu/object.df4595a0-df8b-42ee-a7c1-668dce9a91ed.ivy, 28.10.2010.

Baji P., Gulácsi L., “Beteg önrész” – a lakosság fi zetési hajlandósága az egészségügyi szolgáltatásokért. „Esély” 2010; 4: 106–117.

Schneider P., The World Bank February 15, 2008 Evidence on cost-sharing in health care: Applications to Hungary. The World Bank, 2008.

User fees generate substantial revenues. „EuroHealth” 2009; 15: 41.

User fees reduced but not abolished. „EuroHealth” 2009; 15: 50.

Information

Information: Public Health and Governance, 2010, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 37 - 47

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

The short story of co-payments for health care services in Hungary – lessons for neighbouring countries

English:

The short story of co-payments for health care services in Hungary – lessons for neighbouring countries

Authors

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2899-8557

Petra Baji
Department of Health Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Department of Health Services Research; CAPHRI, Maastricht University Medical Center; Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2899-8557 Orcid
All publications →

Department of Health Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

Department of Health Services Research; CAPHRI, Maastricht University Medical Center; Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands

University of Pécs; Pécs, Dohány u. 1-3, 7622 Hungary

Department of Health Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9285-8746

László Gulácsi
Department of Health Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9285-8746 Orcid
All publications →

Department of Health Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

Published at: 2010

Article status: Open

Licence: None

Percentage share of authors:

Petra Baji (Author) - 25%
Imre Boncz (Author) - 25%
György Jenei (Author) - 25%
László Gulácsi (Author) - 25%

Article corrections:

-

Publication languages:

English

View count: 2151

Number of downloads: 1153