Insurance still just a market “with potential” until healthcare reform

Private health insurance has been the stake with the highest growth potential for insurers for many years. No matter how much they have strived to promote them in recent years and no matter how much confidence Romanians still have in the public healthcare system, insurers holding health policies in their portfolio have not managed to penetrate the Romanian market and set up a consolidated base of insured people.

According to the Insurance Supervision Commission (CSA) data, in 2010 the volume of health insurance gross premiums underwritten reached RON24.9 million, less than 1% in total general insurance. Moreover, underwritten premiums dropped by 15.04% from 2009.

The explanation is simple: although almost 9 in 10 Romanians state they do not trust the public healthcare system, an equal number say they cannot afford paying for private health insurance, reads BUSINESS Magazin magazine.

In the opinion of Theodor Alexandrescu, general manager of Alico Asigurări România, the market of private health insurance will witness solid growth only once reform in the health insurance system has been launched. Besides this reform, economic rebound and the rising purchasing power will be equally strong arguments for Romanians to earmark part of the money they earn every month in this direction. An alternative to health insurance are subscriptions with private clinics, which make up a much more solid market and are causing insurers headaches.