A study of the knowledge of the romanian insurance system

Abstract

Introduction: High-quality health care affects health and wellness. A health insurance policy is a contract between an insurance company and a policy holder intended to safeguard against high and unexpected health care costs. In Romania, the health system is based on health insurance, a benefit provided through a government agency, private business, or a non-profit organization, which assures the patient full medical services when needed.

Material and method: The aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge of the health insurance system in Romania among adults from different counties. In order to perform this study, we developed a questionnaire which includes 15 items reflecting various characteristics of the Romanian health system. The questionnaire was completed by 93 persons, males and females, aged between 18 and 75 years old. We have analyzed the subjects answers to the 15 items and included them in a data base, which served as the bases for the descriptive statistical analysis.

Results: From the total number of 93 subjects who participated at this study, the majority was represented by females, 58%, while males were just 42%. Regarding to the age epidemiologic criterion, we observed that 50% of the respondents were between 18 and 29 years old. We have also noticed that more than a half from the total number of persons, 52%, mentioned high school as their highest level of education, while 45% of the total were students during the period of this study, and only 30% were employed and in contract with different health insurance policies. We analyzed the statistical differences between genders using the questionnaire calculated scores, 1 point for each item, totaling a maximum of 15 points; most of the subjects had a score of at least 10 points. We have compared the scores for males (mean of 9.48) and females (mean of 11.01) obtaining a P value of 0.0166, which is statistically significant.

Conclusion: The majority of the respondents, according to the calculated scores, had at least a moderate level of knowledge about the Romanian health insurance system. Also, there are differences between genders, regarding the level of information about the health insurance system, which are statistically significant, females being more informed than males.