Theodor Alexandrescu, a previous CEO at well-known insurance firms like AIG, MetLife, and Zurich Asigurări, offered a deep analysis that distinguishes health insurance from medical subscriptions during an interview with Gândul. Alexandrescu distinctly outlined the features of health insurance, highlighting its advantages and objectives, especially in cases of chronic or acute illnesses, as well as accidents.
He noted that every person faces the risk of morbidity, which includes chronic or acute illnesses and accidents leading to acute conditions. Insurance companies can effectively take on and reduce these risks to compensate individuals when such incidents occur.
Alexandrescu stressed that the purpose of insurance is to restore individuals to their health status prior to the incident rather than to generate profit. Insurance guarantees that individuals receive medical services to reclaim their health without incurring personal financial strain.
In contrast, medical subscriptions are commercial agreements that provide a designated set of services without an immediate obligation to deliver them or ensure adequate financial security. Subscriptions function based on availability, which may not align with patient demands during critical health scenarios.
Health insurance, regulated by legal frameworks, requires financial allocation to promptly handle claims that arise from medical events. In practice, insurance is more dependable as it offers assured support, in contrast to subscriptions that might postpone essential services due to availability issues.
The affordability and effectiveness of health insurance rely on broad enrollment to spread risks, while concentrated risk makes insurance costly. Furthermore, systemic challenges such as fraud and resource mismanagement significantly impact public health systems in Romania, highlighting an urgent need for reform.
Looking ahead, Alexandrescu promoted the idea of increasing insurance penetration by tackling obstacles like overlapping functions with medical subscriptions. The suggested harmonization would ideally transform insurance dynamics by reducing subscription-related distractions and establishing strong regulatory frameworks. This transformation could boost public health savings by channeling funds into private systems instead of medical subscriptions that frequently burden public resources.
In contemplating health systems from other nations, such as those in the Middle East and Europe, Alexandrescu illustrated the effectiveness achieved through digitalization, streamlined regulations, and priority insurance models. He proposes that these frameworks could inform Romanian health systemic reforms, emphasizing the advantages of insurance in light of current administrative inefficiencies.
