Kontakt 2011, 13(3):315-327 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2011.037

Complex health insurance of foreigners and its drawbacks (An analysis of situation in providing foreigners with health care)Health and Social Sciences - Review

Ruslan Zassiedko^*, Martina Tušková

Oblastní Řeckokatolická charita v Českých Budějovicích

Amendment of law No. 326/1999 Sb. "On the stay of foreigners in the territory of the Czech Republic" brought a number of changes in the field of providing foreigners with the health care in the Czech Republic. In the Czech Republic, there are five commercial health insurance companies that can rightfully insure foreigners as follows: the insurance company Maxima a. s., the General Health Insurance Company a. s., the insurance company Slavia, Victoria Volksbanken and the insurance company Uniqa. The article entitled "An analysis of situation in providing foreigners with health care" deals with aspects encountered by foreigners arranging the health insurance in the Czech Republic territory. These are foreigners who do not adhere to criteria of providing the health care based on the public health insurance. In the first part of the contribution presented here, criteria of the analysis of the complex health insurance (obligatory for foreigners who stay in the Czech Republic territory for periods longer than 90 days) are established, offers and services provided by particular health insurance companies are described (including language and local accessibility) and problems of foreigners who cannot be insured is also outlined. The principal part of the article is aimed at the scope of and exclusions from the health care reimbursement, detailed consideration of insurance benefits, duration and abolishment of the insurance and special requirements of the law "On the stay of foreigners in the Czech Republic territory" in terms of insurance contracts. Main drawbacks of the complex health insurance are conclusively considered, such as for example the language problems associated with primary information on the health insurance in the Czech Republic, impossibility of adhering to conditions necessary for the arrangement of the insurance, its high cost or legislation making the access of foreigners to the health insurance difficult.
The contribution is based on results of the solution of the COST Project entitled "The health and social situation of immigrants and asylum seekers in the Czech Republic", the main purpose of which is finding the relationship between the health condition and social situation of immigrants and asylum seekers in the Czech Republic territory with the help of ten social determinants of the health. The sample group included Ukrainian, Mongolian and Vietnamese people aged 18-65 years.

Keywords: foreigners; health care; health insurance companies; complex health insurance; insurance conditions; law on stay of foreigners in the Czech Republic territory

Received: April 28, 2011; Accepted: August 22, 2011; Published: September 29, 2011  Show citation