The study „The role of private health insurance in the healthcare system of the future“ was prepared in cooperation with Versicherungsforen Leipzig, a driving force for the insurance industry, and adesso insurance solutions
GmbH, a software company in the international insurance market. According to the study, it will no longer be sufficient in the future for private health insurers to focus mainly on reimbursement of services.
All stakeholders in the healthcare system were surveyed for the analysis. The insured, and also individual employees, experts and board members from the payer sector of private health insurance revealed their experiences and opinions in interviews. According to the results, preventive health care and health activities are playing an increasingly important role in the care of insured persons. Medical and technical innovations, as well as the Corona pandemic, have shown that there is a surge in services that are convenient for insured persons. Digitization and also the improved networking of all players in the healthcare system, which also includes providers (hospitals, doctors‘ practices, pharmacies), are providing better healthcare and more transparency, while also increasing complexity. Today, customers or insureds of PKV have great trust, which has increased even more due to the effects of the Corona pandemic. Nevertheless, those responsible for private health insurance must ask themselves whether this will continue to be the case without restriction in the future, because the pandemic has also had a negative financial impact. In addition, private insurers are struggling with the low interest rate policy, an increasingly aging society, more providers and greater networking. This has many advantages, but also disadvantages in the long term, because customers expect the insurer (GKV/PKV) to be not only a financial supporter, but also a health partner who provides advice to the individual customer.
According to the survey, private health insurance policyholders would particularly welcome more bonus programs – 52 percent said so. 42 percent would like to see better financing of preventive examinations and 40 percent consider digital invoice transmission to be useful.
Many are very satisfied with the digital appointments and video consultations and see this as a real added value. The e-prescription and the digital AU as well as the electronic files are also well received by the insured, as are, for example, individual tariffs, depending on proof of certain health-promoting measures.
Source: e-health-com.de