PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE PRODUCT – POLISH EXPERIENCE IN COMPARISON TO THE EUROPEAN STATE OF AFFAIRS

Abstract

Private health insurance in Poland is deemed to be a potential driving force for the development of the whole insurance market. Currently, private health insurance is a diverse collection of insurance products in terms of their structure. The purpose of the paper is to reconstruct - on the basis of general terms and conditions of insurance – and to present the standard health coverage offered by domestic insurers. Greatest attention will be turned to the following policy conditions: people insured, insurance period, types of guaranteed benefits (core and additional), territorial scope of insurance and insurer’s liability limitations. In this context, the author also attempts to mention the changes in policy conditions that were observed on the Polish health insurance market in years 2005-2011 as well as the essential problems existing on it. As far as possible, Polish experience in private health insurance product design will be compared with European state of affairs.

Keywords

• private health insurance, Polish insurance market, health insurance product design

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