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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Private health insurance in the universal public healthcare system: The role of healthcare provision in Finland

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Voluntary private health insurance (VPHI) has gained popularity in universal public healthcare systems. We studied how the local provision of healthcare services correlated with VPHI take-up in Finland. Nationwide register data from a Finnish insurance company was aggregated to the local level and augmented with high-quality data on public and private primary care providers’ geographical closeness and fees. We found that the sociodemographic characteristics explained the VPHI take-up more than public or private healthcare provision. The VPHI take-up was negatively associated with distance to the nearest private clinic, while the associations with distance to public health stations were statistically weak. Fees and co-payments for healthcare services were not associated with insurance take-up, meaning that the geographical closeness of providers explained the take-up more than the price of services. On the other hand, we found that VPHI take-up was higher when local employment, income and education levels were higher. peerReviewed