Can people afford to pay for health care? - New evidence on financial protection in Finland (2021)

Abstract

<p>This review is part of a series of country-based studies generating new<br>evidence on financial protection in health systems in Europe. Financial<br>protection is central to universal health coverage and a core dimension<br>of health system performance. The incidence of catastrophic health<br>spending in Finland is relatively high compared to other Nordic countries.<br>It is driven mainly by out-of-pocket payments for outpatient medicines,<br>followed by outpatient care and dental care. Unmet need for health<br>and dental services is also more prevalent in Finland than in many other<br>countries in western Europe. The factors that undermine access and<br>financial protection, with a disproportionate impact on poorer and older<br>households, include: long-standing issues in the governance of coverage<br>policy – multiple and overlapping coverage schemes, combined with<br>regional variation in waiting times and co-payments, favour people in<br>work and wealthier households; complex and heavy co-payments for<br>almost all health services, with inadequate protection mechanisms; gaps<br>in coverage and weaknesses in purchasing outpatient medicines; and<br>relatively low levels of public investment in health. To reduce unmet need<br>and financial hardship, policy should focus on limiting co-payments for<br>outpatient care, especially primary care; improving protection from all<br>co-payments for poorer households and people with high need for health<br>care; and strengthening supply-side policies to promote better prescribing,<br>dispensing and use of medicines.<br></p>