Romanian Health Minister: Basic medical services package needs accompanying private healthcare coverage

A decision on whether private health insurance should be mandatory could be made by the end of the month, according to Romania’s health minister. While it’s still uncertain whether private heath care insurance will be made compulsory or optional in Romania, the country's health Minister Eugen Nicolăescu has said that basic medical services should be accompanied by extra services covered by private insurers. The minister recently said a decision will soon be made on whether the private health insurance will be optional or mandatory and that two packages, a basic one and one covered by private insurance, will provide better health coverage for patients than what they currently receive. A decision could be made by end of September, according to Nicolăescu. The basic health care package will be available for every Romanian citizen irrespective of their insurance status and will include prevention services, emergency services, and most of the services offered by family doctors. This is poised to change the Romanian medical system, which has been facing increasing competition from private medical health care operators, who have been expanding their footprint across Romania in recent years. While many Romanians with average and below average income still rely on the state–run medical system, wealthier Romanians choose private clinics and hospitals and often pay for private healthcare services. Some providers, who previously only sold monthly insurance to companies for their employees, have gone retail with their offers. Earlier this year, private healthcare operator MedLife and insurance company Generali launched several health insurance packages for individuals, which are available via online orders. MedLife's insurance arm MedLife Broker and Generali created Vital, which can only be bought online and gives access to surgery, hospitalization, lab analysis, as well as imagery services. The insurance package also comes with the option to include family members in the package, with a 50 percent discount. The minimum cost for the insurance is RON 45 per month (around EUR 10), while the maximum value is RON 264 (some EUR 60), which includes all medical costs, as well as those of the spouse and a child. There are four different packages, starting from the basic surgery and hospitalization, with three add-ons: fractures, consultation and investigations and imagery. Another private medical services provider, Regina Maria, teamed up with insurer Groupama to provide similar packages in a Integrated Medical Insurance. The two companies offer three packages that cover surgeries and hospitalization, as well as ambulatory medical care, which comes in three different options. Package prices are available upon request from Groupama and Regina Maria. editor@romania-insider.com