Health care under transformation in Poland.

The general health insurance introduced in Poland in 1999 is essentially a social insurance. In this article, the main features of the present health care system are discussed, i.e. the sources and principles of financing, ownership relations, structures, entitlements to obtain medical services and the rules of access to services. Emphasis has been put on the operations of various entities operating within the health care sector, including opportunistic conduct of the providers of services financed from public sources, cost dumping, establishing provider alliances, methods of cost control, and the fact that some patients leave the publicly financed system. In Poland, a parallel private system has been developing for many years. Systemic transformations have not changed that direction, but increased considerably the significance of household income and education as the factors that differentiate patient in equality. This article is concluded with the note on the opportunities for the development of supplementary private insurance.