In Estonia, health insurance is available to those who receive a salary. The state also covers the medical costs of children and the elderly. However, 10% of women and 14% of men are not insured, although the law requires it.
According to three experts, health insurance should be mandatory. Individuals should pay for it themselves, as in Lithuania or the Netherlands. If a person does not pay, they incur a debt to the state. If they have income, the state can collect this money.
Currently, insurance is calculated based on the average salary. But expert Andres Võrk says the minimum wage should be used instead. Then the payment would be 115 euros per month.
Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi says the idea is good, but there are questions. How to ensure that everyone can pay? How to prevent people from paying little but still receiving insurance?
Ligi does not believe that calculating based on the minimum wage is correct. Then people would receive less insurance than they need.
Riina Solman (Isamaa) does not support the idea. She says many people do not have the money. 115 euros per month is too much for many.
Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) wants everyone to be insured. But he does not believe that people should have to pay themselves. Some people can pay but don't want to. Others are poor and cannot pay.
In Estonia, 7% of the population is without health insurance. In Europe, only Romania has more such people.