Health Insurance around the World

Health insurance is used widely around the world, either in the form of publicly funded national insurance schemes, employer funded group insurance, or private health insurance taken out by individuals. The nature of public health care systems differs from nation to nation, so it is important to have an understanding of these global differences and how they affect the health insurance industry in your jurisdiction. Most of these differences relate to the relationship between the public and private health insurance industries, with the private sector playing much more of a role in some countries around the world.

For example, in Australia, the United Kingdom, and much of Europe, the public health care system is so strong that only a proportion of people have private health insurance policies. Whereas in the United States, despite the recent health care reforms of 2010, the entire hospital and medical system is heavily reliant on the private sector. In the United States, lots of employers set up group insurance plans for their employees, in order that they are covered if they should ever need medical assistance and care. The differences between major countries are listed below.

Australia

In Australia, the public health system is called Medicare, and it provides free universal access to hospitals and subsidised access to other forms of medical treatment. There is also an active private health insurance industry, the largest institution of which is Medibank Private.

France

The national health system in France is profession based, where all people pay a portion of their income into a not-for-profit insurance fund that is available to all. A system of solidarity ensures that the more a person is ill, the less they have to pay, although a private insurance industry also exists.

The United Kingdom

In the U.K there is a publicly funded healthcare system called the National Health Service, which provides coverage to all normal residents of the U.K. Private health insurance is used by less than 8% of the population, normally as a way to top up services or provide access to a more detailed level of coverage.

The United States

The U.S system is heavily reliant on the private health insurance industry, which is the primary source of coverage for 85% or Americans. Public programs do exist in some situations, but are not as large or well funded as they are in other nations.