The start of the school year is approaching, and so is the decision to insure the kids. We would like to present some graphics, prepared by the Polish Insurance Association, which plainly explain the most important characteristics of personal injury insurance for school children.

On 9–10 May 2016, the 5th Congress of the Polish Insurance Association – the most important discussion forum for the insurance industry in Poland, gathering representatives of the parliament, government administration, financial supervision and insurers in Sopot every year – was held. This year’s Congress was visited by a record number of guests – more than 260. The Congress was opened by:

This year’s meeting included most predominantly discussions on the insurer’s impact on the environment, security, reputation, innovation in insurance and legal regulations related to insurance intermediation. The Speaker of the Polish Sejm, Mr Marek Kuchciński, addressed a letter related to the Congress to the President of the Polish Insurance Association.

Letter from Mr Marek Kuchciński, Speaker of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland

Photos from the Congress and videos presenting individual discussion panels will be provided on the PIU website soon. Presentations delivered during specialist panels of the 5th PIU Congress are available below. They were dedicated to:

– The impact of insurance on the economy and society and announcement of a future PIU report in this respect
– Traffic safety and announcement of a future PIU report in this respect
– Innovation in insurance
– New regulations on insurance intermediation

On 10 May 2017, the General Assembly of the Polish Insurance Association granted the “In recognition of service to the insurance industry” awards. This is an industry-specific award granted to a person working in the interest of the insurance sector, including researchers dealing with the subject area of insurance or promoting knowledge of insurance, as well as to other natural or legal persons who have significantly contributed to the development of insurance in Poland.
The awards have been received by:

On 10 May 2017 the General Assembly of the Polish Insurance Association elected members of the PIU Audit Committee for the years 2017–2020. The PIU Audit Committee comprises the following persons:

The PIU Audit Committee comprises the following persons:

Piotr Dzikiewicz
Sławomir Łopalewski
Jarosław Matusiewicz
Piotr Narloch
Roman Pałac
Jarosław Parkot
Aneta Podyma
Paweł Surówka
Piotr M. Śliwicki
Adam Uszpolewicz
Anna Włodarczyk-Moczkowska

 

Data for the entire 2016 demonstrate that the number of persons holding additional health insurance has increased by almost 30% as compared to the previous year, reaching 1.86 million of those insured. Data of the Polish Insurance Association demonstrate that the gross premium written amounted to PLN 547.2 million – an increase by more than 13%.

Group insurance, usually purchased by employers or the employees themselves, continues to represent the largest part of the additional health insurance market, with more than 1.47 million people covered. Nonetheless, it is the group of individual insurance that noted the largest increase, of as much as 42% year on year.
“The growing popularity of this type of insurance makes it no longer the domain of large corporations only. An increasing number of small and medium enterprises and public administration bodies decide to provide additional protection to their employees,” explains Dorota M. Fal, health insurance specialist and adviser to the Management Board of the Polish Insurance Association for health insurance. “Such policies supplement the public healthcare system and come as a response to its shortcomings, namely poor access to consultants and certain hospital procedures, in particular surgical ones. Health insurance offered by the employer is a very popular bonus which not only increases the attractiveness of a given company, but also brings it tangible benefits in the form of reduced absenteeism and presenteeism of employees,” she adds.

Individual insuranceGroup insurance
2015201620152016
Number of insured (thousand)272386.11,164.71,475.3
Gross premium written (PLN million)74.782.7408.8464.5

We invite you to study the “Insurance Figures 2016” brochure, which includes key data on the insurance market in Poland. Among others, it includes data concerning the insurers’ assets, damages paid and premiums collected. The brochure also contains information about the premiums collected on the insurance markets in individual countries in Europe.

“Insurance Figures 2016” brochure

 

We invite you to study the most recent report on the bancassurance market in Poland.

 

Report

 

In 2016, Polish insurers paid out PLN 36.6 billion in compensation and benefits to the injured and customers. This is 4.6% more than last year.

Key figures of the insurance market in 2016

 

Motor insurance market

Key figures:

“Compensation and benefit payments are increasing, while the increase in premiums that occurred in 2016 prevented higher losses on third-party liability insurance. It has to be emphasised that the increase in premiums requires insurers to establish higher reserves, therefore the full effect of the increase will appear in the insurers’ accounts after several or even few dozen months from their introduction. To date, the third-party civil liability market remains unprofitable, with a loss of PLN 1 billion,” says Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, President of PIU.

 

Non-life insurance market (Section II exclusive of motor vehicle insurance).

Key figures:

“In 2016, the key events on the non-life market were huge damages connected with agricultural crops. Insurance protection enabled to compensate for losses in crops caused mainly by unfavourable weather conditions,” explains Andrzej Maciążek, Vice-President of the Management Board of PIU.

 

Life insurance market

Key figures:

“In the life insurance market we are still observing a decrease in the premium from investment-type insurance. The new legal regulations that have been in force since the beginning of 2016 have had an impact on a decrease in sales in this segment, but at the same time made customers more consciously in selecting service options,” says J. Grzegorz Prądzyński.

 

Financial results of insurers

The technical result on life insurance amounted to PLN 3 billion and was 6% higher than the year before. The technical result of non-life insurers amounted to PLN 350 million and was 56.5% higher than in 2015. The income tax due from Polish insurers for 2016 amounted to PLN 1 billion, whereas the tax on assets – to approximately PLN 620 million.

 

 

After three quarters of 2016 the number of private health insurance holders increased YoY by 28% and reached 1.76 million. Data of the Polish Insurance Association demonstrate that the gross premium written amounted to PLN 399.1 million.

Most frequently held insurance (more than 1.4 million) comes in the form of group policies, usually purchased by employers or the employees themselves. “In Poland, additional health insurance usually forms part of social benefits. The growing queues to consultants and uncertainties related to ongoing changes in healthcare cause higher interest in private insurance among the customers with an increasing scope,” says Dorota M. Fal, adviser to the Management Board of the Polish Insurance Association for health insurance. “More and more often, PIU receives, through the www.polisynazdrowie.pl website, questions from potential customers concerning health insurance including hospital services. There is also increasing interest in drug policies, which secure our spending on medicines against changes related to their reimbursement,” she adds.

Health insurance market after Q3 2016

Individual insuranceGroup insurance
Q3 2015Q3 2016Q3 2015Q3 2016
Number of insured (thousand)244.7350.51,1371,414.3
Gross premium written (PLN million)50.556.6305.7342.4

Polish Insurance Association data for the first quarter of 2017 show that the number of persons with additional health policies increased year-on-year by nearly 30% to exceed 2 million insured people. Meanwhile, according to PIU data, the gross premium written from the entire market amounted to PLN 169.1 million (an increase of 25%).

Despite a dynamic growth (59%) in the number of individual policies (453,000 people), group insurance still accounts for most of the additional health insurance market – 1,558 million. They are usually bought in the form of an employee bonus which, on one hand, benefits employees who have easier access to medical services and, on the other hand, benefits employers – by reducing absenteeism in the workplace.

– With every quarter, the growing number of individual and group health policies shows that Poles see the need and necessity to invest in private healthcare. This ensues from the uncertainty caused, on one hand, by planned major changes in public healthcare and, on the other hand, by the low level of public funding. Poland spends only 4.5% of GDP on health, which puts it in the penultimate position among OECD countries. We are not only behind West European countries, but also our neighbours from the East. To compare, the average value of public spending in European Union countries is as high as 7.9% – confirms Dorota M. Fal, adviser to the Management Board of the Polish Insurance Association and adds: – With such low public expenditure and a significant increase in interest in private investment in health, both individual and corporate, systemic support for the development of the additional health insurance market is needed. Individuals with private policies have easier and quicker access to medical services, and at the same time they relieve the burden on the public healthcare system, which is important for users of National Health Fund services. Due to the fact that some of the patients are transferring over to the private healthcare sector, queues at public healthcare facilities are becoming shorter.