An Economic Approach to Health Insurance

Financing the healthcare sector, which directly affects the health of the population, has become a topic of major importance at a global level because even developed countries face difficulties in sustaining the financial sustainability of these services. In most countries, such as the Netherlands, Croatia, France, Slovakia, Romania, etc., the financing of health care through health insurance is the basis for its financing. This article proposes an analysis of the financing of the health sector through health insurance in order to emphasize the need to increase the percentage of GDP in this sector for comprehensive coverage of the population with health services and to improve access to health care. In this respect, Romania is being analyzed in the context of the EU, because a comparative criterion is needed to form an overview of the way and level of financing of health services in Romania. The objective of this article is to highlight the impact of health sector financing on the access of the population to health care and the financing of health insurance as a percentage of the total expenditures of this sector. The motivation for approaching the theme comes from the fact that the health care activity has an important influence on the development of the national economy because, at the macroeconomic level, the health condition contributes to the labor force and to the general well-being. Making a radiograph of the health insurance system in Romania is necessary and timely at the same time as it is a topical issue because the health condition has profound implications on social-economic life.