Private health insurance in the universal public healthcare system : The role of healthcare provision in Finland

Abstract

Voluntary private health insurance (VPHI) has gained popularity in universal public healthcare systems. We studied how the local provision of healthcare services correlated with VPHI take-up in Finland. Nationwide register data from a Finnish insurance company was aggregated to the local level and augmented with high-quality data on public and private primary care providers’ geographical closeness and fees. We found that the sociodemographic characteristics explained the VPHI take-up more than public or private healthcare provision. The VPHI take-up was negatively associated with distance to the nearest private clinic, while the associations with distance to public health stations were statistically weak. Fees and co-payments for healthcare services were not associated with insurance take-up, meaning that the geographical closeness of providers explained the take-up more than the price of services. On the other hand, we found that VPHI take-up was higher when local employment, income and education levels were higher.