Since the transformation following the Communist era, Poland has matched improvements in health
outcomes of the most developed OECD countries, although without catching up the ground lost during
the 1970s and 1980s. The health status of the population remains relatively poor, although after controlling
for per capita income health outcomes are only slightly below the OECD average. The Polish health-care
system is characterised by low spending, a heavily regulated public system with a stringent budget
constraint, restricted sub-national government autonomy and a thin private insurance market. Heavy
out-of-pocket payments and long waiting lists generate inequalities in access to care. The most pressing
issues to be addressed concern: easing the substantial limitations in access to care; reducing persistent
inequalities; carefully designing new private health insurance; better coordinating among major public
actors; improving hospital management; strengthening the gate-keeping function played by generalists; and
developing a comprehensive long-term-care strategy. This Working Paper relates to the 2012 OECD
Economic Review of Poland (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Poland).
