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When some people buy better health, others pay the price
Private health insurance contributes to poorer health among people with the lowest levels of education.
People with private health insurance can skip the public healthcare queue by using private health services instead.
But is that really such a bad thing?
How do private healthcare services affect public health?
There are two main theories:
If the wealthiest people use private healthcare services more, the public healthcare system will have more capacity for the rest of us.
Private health services divert resources away from the public healthcare system, making it worse.
So which is correct?
Researchers at NTNU have been investigating this, and the results are now in.
Public health is deteriorating
“Our findings suggest that an increase in private health insurance leads to poorer health in the population over time,” says Pål Erling Martinussen.
He is a professor at NTNU's Department of Sociology and Political Science.
Private health insurance has become much more common in several European countries over the past few decades.
Together with PhD candidate Oda Nordheim, Martinussen has studied developments in 20 countries over the period from 2002 to 2022.
Their study includes data from more than 300,000 people.
Worse for those with the lowest levels of education
“People with a low level of education are more likely to report poor health if they live in a country where private health insurance has increased,” says Nordheim.
A lower level of education is often associated with lower income, at least on average.
Some people receive private health insurance through their jobs.
Even so, the figures show that it is often people with the least financial resilience who are most affected.
The negative health effects outweigh the benefits
Paying for private health services may be beneficial for those who can afford to do so, but it comes at the expense of others.
“The negative health effects on the population as a whole outweigh the benefits that private health insurance provides to individuals,” says Martinussen.
The researchers therefore believe that European policymakers should implement strategies to counteract the potential negative side effects of private health insurance.
Reference:
Martinussen, P.E. & Nordheim, O. Somebody get me a doctor: Voluntary health insurance, social background and subjective health in Europe 2002-2022, Health Policy, 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2026.105596
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Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no
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