Healthcare in Luxembourg

Healthcare in Luxembourg is based on three fundamental principles: compulsory health insurance, free choice of healthcare provider for patients and compulsory compliance of providers in the set fixed costs for the services rendered. Citizens are covered by a healthcare system that provides medical, maternity and illness benefits and, for the elderly, attendance benefits. The extent of the coverage varies depending on the occupation of the individual. Those employed or receiving social security have full insurance coverage, and the self-employed and tradesmen are provided with both medical benefits and attendance benefits.[1] That is all funded by taxes on citizens' incomes, payrolls and wages. However, the government covers the funding for maternity benefits as well as any other sector that needs additional funding.[2] About 75% of the population purchases a complementary healthcare plan.[3] About 99% of the people are covered under the state healthcare system.

14 Hospitals like the Luxembourg City St. Zita Convent facility provide a wide range of healthcare services for Luxembourg's citizens.

Funding Luxembourg's Health System

According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), healthcare spending on behalf of the government of Luxembourg topped $4.1 Billion, amounting to about $8,182 for each citizen in the nation.[4][5] The entirety of funding comes from domestic sources, where the government covers about 84% of healthcare funding with household expenditures covering the remaining costs. With the allocation of about 15% of total government expenditures toward health programs, the nation of Luxembourg collectively spent nearly 7% of its Gross Domestic Product on health, placing it among the highest spending countries on health services and related programs in 2010 among other well-off nations in Europe with high average income among its population.[6] As a whole, health expenditures take up a share of total GDP at 1.8 percentage points under the average across OECD nations.[7] Before healthcare reform took place in 1992, payment for healthcare services was based on a fee-per-service requirement, whereas now it is based on individual budgets negotiated between health insurance agencies and the hospitals at the nationwide level.[8] The state role at most consists of working with care providers for accreditation, and management of contracts. Citizens pay at most 5% of their annual wage into the nationwide coverage program.

Mutual Medico-Surgical Fund (CMCM)

As Luxembourg's primary voluntary health insurance program, the Cause Médico-Chirurgicale Mutualiste (Mutual Medico-Surgical Fund) covers a wide range of services for citizens such as[9]

  • hospital costs not covered by statutory insurance
  • additional charges for private hospital room
  • pre-operative and post-operative treatment costs
  • dental prostheses not covered by the statutory insurance
  • diagnostic, medical, operative and hospitalization costs for a surgical intervention abroad
  • partial reimbursement where no agreement exists on the cost of a treatment

Healthcare Organization and Access

Social Care

Currently in place is a law passed on September 8, 1998 between the state and non-governmental organizations, (NGO's) working in social care[9]. Independent NGO's work alongside the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Family and Social Welfare as one of the widest sectors in government assistance, extending social care in Luxembourg to include services such as drug prevention activities, shelter for the country's homeless and resources for single parents, such as childcare and recreational-type activities[9]. Coverage for services deemed nonessential as part of compulsory health insurance frameworks is not only available, but widely utilized, with over 75% of the national population purchasing complementary health insurance to extend the range of care to non-useful services addressing non-threatening conditions.[9]

Insurance

The Statutory health insurance system in Luxembourg is responsible for the healthcare of 99% of its residents. This compulsory system of health insurance is managed and provided by the Union of Sickness Funds alongside 9 separate agencies among which the general population is distributed and allocated on the basis of the professional occupation they hold. All services rendered by professionals are defined and assessed under the Ministers of Social Security and Health.[10] The Voluntary health insurance program has typically been limited as a direct result of the compulsory public system that covers the majority of the population' debts for medical services.

Primary Challenges to National Health
The EU's "Alcohol Belt" where Alcohol transport policies have made Luxembourg a top consumer and hotspot for alcohol sales in the region[11]

Across Luxembourg one of the greatest problems to the nations's health has been the high number of deaths from non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic respiratory diseases, arising from a variety of factors, though most notably from substance abuse. [12] Premature mortality as a direct result of NCD's has been a primary cause of death nationwide, with the probability of dying between the ages of 30 and 70 years at 11%, with cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer claiming the most lives among the middle-aged group .[13]

EU conference assessing cross-border alcohol transport policy.

Alcohol

Luxembourg boasts one of the highest levels of alcohol consumption among European nations, showcasing an average consumption rate of over 60% above the European average.[14] Alcohol policy within the EU has promoted high levels of consumption through low prices and wide availability.The mortality rate from alcohol-related causes is one of the highest among other European nations such as Slovenia, Croatia, and Finland, evidently a direct result of high levels of consumption as part of harmful drinking patterns among people in Luxembourg. Contributory to high consumption is a relatively cheaper cost of strong alcohol items such as grain alcohol.[15]According to OECD data, 35% of adults in Luxembourg in 2014 consumed large quantities of alcohol in one sitting. Alcohol abuse and dependency have accounted for a considerable share of the alcohol-related diseases observed in the cause of death among citizens . [7]

gollark: I mean, having the right to do something and it being a good idea to do it is not the same thing...
gollark: I... do accept that, you realise...
gollark: He had reasons. He also overreacted. They are not mutually exclusive.
gollark: The issue is more like "one person did a bad thing, there was a massive overreaction, and apparently you have no safeguards in place and someone can randomly run around deleting everything".
gollark: Tako: doing some mildly bad thing.Rph: massively overreacting.... actually, that's two people, yes.

References
  1. Boslaugh, Sarah (2013). Health Care Systems Around the World: A Comparative Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. p. 271. ISBN 9781452276205. Luxembourg has social insurance that provides medical benefits, cash maternity and sickness benefits, and attendance (assistance with daily living) benefits. Employees and social security beneficiaries are covered in the full system, while artists, farmers, and the self-employed are covered for medical and attendance benefits.
  2. Boslaugh, Sarah (2013). Health Care Systems Around the World: A Comparative Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. p. 271. ISBN 9781452276205. The system is financed through wage, income, and payroll contributions, with government general revenues covering maternity benefits and subsidizing other benefits.
  3. "Highlights on health in Luxembourg" (PDF). www.euro.who.int. WHO Regional Office for Europe.
  4. "World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe". www.euro.who.int. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  5. "Health Expenditure and Financing". stats.oecd.org. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  6. "Overview of the Healthcare System in Luxembourg". Health Management EuroStat. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  7. "Health Policy in Luxembourg" (PDF). www.oecd.org. March 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  8. "Health Technology Assessment in Luxembourg". www.cambridge.org. Retrieved December 2, 2017.
  9. "Health Care Systems in Transition- Luxembourg" (PDF). www.euro.who.int/_data/assets. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  10. "Organisation in Luxembourg". www.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
  11. Alcohol in the European Union : consumption, harm and policy approaches. Anderson, Peter, 1954-, Møller, Lars (Lars F.),, Galea, Gauden,, World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe. Copenhagen Ø, Denmark. 2012. ISBN 9789289002646. OCLC 855332702.CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. "World Health Organization - Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD) Country Profiles , 2014" (PDF). www.who.int. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  13. "World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe Luxembourg Data and Statistics". www.euro.who.int/en/countrues/luxembourg. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  14. Alcohol in the European Union : consumption, harm and policy approaches. Anderson, Peter, 1954-, Møller, Lars (Lars F.),, Galea, Gauden,, World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe. Copenhagen Ø, Denmark. 2012. ISBN 9789289002646. OCLC 855332702.CS1 maint: others (link)
  15. Rabinovich, Lila. "Further study on the affordability of alcoholic beverages in the EU" (PDF). https://ec/europa.eu/health/sites/health/files. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
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