CURRENT STATE OF MEDICAL EXPENSES INSURANCE IN UKRAINE

Abstract

One tool for enhancing the operation of the healthcare system is health insurance, where medical expenses insurance constitutes a crucial element. Therefore, it is crucial and pertinent to examine the tenets of health insurance for medical expenses as a type of social safeguard for individuals to indemnify the fiscal consequences linked with maladies and mishaps whilst travelling. The article examines various theoretical approaches to the nature of healthcare cost insurance and evaluates its current status. The identified factors that necessitate healthcare cost insurance are explained, and the fundamental principles of implementation are disclosed. The author highlights the regulatory and legal approaches to medical expense insurance, pointing out the inconsistencies in the forms of such insurance under the Law of Ukraine "On Insurance" and the Law of Ukraine "On Tourism", and emphasises the need for improvement. The article describes the insurance risks of medical expenses insurance in comparison with other types of voluntary health insurance, in particular, continuous health insurance and sickness insurance. In this paper the structure and dynamics of certain macroeconomic indicators in general by types of services of the insurance market of Ukraine, in particular, medical expenses insurance, are analysed, and the main trends of its development are identified. It is established that economic factors, changes in the healthcare system, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the full-scale war in Ukraine have a significant impact on fluctuations in the volume of net insurance premiums for such insurance. It is proved that the future advancement of medical expenses insurance will be impacted by several factors, including the growth of tourism, an increased awareness among travellers of the necessity of insurance, intensified competition among insurers, improved economic recovery in the post-war period, creation of numerous employment opportunities, and increased citizen incomes.