500,000 “sneak” in health queues through their job

Photo: Marit Hommedal / NTB scanpix

Hundreds of thousands of Norwegians arrive faster at the front of the health care queue because they receive private health insurance through their job.

The scheme threatens the ideal of equality says a professor.

At the end of 2018, 549,882 Norwegians had private health insurance wrote Dagsavisen, which referred to Finans Norge newspaper. About 90% of them received insurance paid by the employer.

In the public sector, it is common for an MRI to take many weeks, but with insurance, the examination can be taken within a few days.

‘’It is important that our employees are healthy and therefore important that they come faster through the queue’’ said HR and recruitment director, Beathe Lassen of Sopra Steria, one of the companies that gives employees private insurance.

There are 13 times as many who have private health insurance today as in 2006. Kjell Haug, professor of community medicine at the University of Bergen, is concerned about the effect the development may have.

‘’In a model where we think that we should have the most similarity and equality, it is not the right way to go’’ he said.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today