Young People Most Open to Private Health Services

83% of Hungarians have used private healthcare services, and young people are particularly open to this, with 96% of those under 30, according to a representative survey by Ipsos, a public opinion poll firm for the new patient-friendly project initiative.

A summary sent to the state news agency MTI on Wednesday says that the new coronavirus epidemic has boosted demand for private health services, a demand that has been increasing for years. 63% of those surveyed had sought private health care in the past year, including 49% in the past six months. Among those who had visited private care in the past one year, 83% were under 30 years old.

Those who had been to private care were most likely to have gone for blood tests or dental care recently, at 39 and 38% respectively. Gynecology came third out of the top ten types of care, with a quarter of those surveyed having last used a private clinic for this type of test.

This is followed by ultrasound scans at 15%, then dermatology and urinalysis at 14-14%. Relatively few people chose private care for imaging tests, with X-rays and MRI accounting for 8 and 6% respectively.

For women, gynecology clearly topped the list, with 46% having last visited such a specialist in private healthcare, 40% for blood tests and 35% for dental treatment. For men, dentistry came top with 41%, followed by blood tests and dermatology.

According to the survey, the majority of respondents cited empathy, courtesy, speed and time as the benefits of private care, but the highest scoring private hospital did not reach 50%. The 30 top health care providers surveyed scored around 35%, the release said.