The Drivers of Voluntary Private Health Insurance Demand in European Countries

Abstract

During the pandemic, health care services have gained in importance. One of the ways used to finance these services is through voluntary private health insurance. Existing studies on the demand for voluntary private health insurance are based predominantly on the micro-economic level. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse the factors of demand at the macro-economic level. The analysis covers economic and demographic factors, the quality of the public health care system, risk aversion and the status of the population’s health. The empirical research is based on the databases of 29 European countries in the period from 2013 to 2017 and on the dynamic panel model. The results of the empirical analysis revealed that income, price, urbanization, health care system quality, risk aversion/education and self-perceived health are important determinants of demand for voluntary private health insurance in European countries.