The 2018 European Social Policy Network report on equalities in healthcare, published in June, was full of praise for Luxembourg’s healthcare system, which is 40% funded by general taxation.

It mentioned measures to ensure financial support for patients who cannot afford to pay contributions and a benefit-in-kind model for those who cannot afford prepayment of care before reimbursement.

However, it points out that the cost of care means “some small differences in access to healthcare do remain.”

“Generalised direct payment of medical care by the national insurance authorities, a proposal currently being debated, would address these differences,” the report author wrote.

Barriers to healthcare

According to health not for profit Doctors of the World (Medecins du Monde), the most likely groups not to have access to healthcare tended to be the homeless, undocumented migrants, drug-dependent people and others who fall through the cracks in the social system. Some 591 people used the free healthcare offered by Doctors of the World in 2016, a number which rose to 784 in 2017.

Among the main barriers to accessing healthcare, the report author wrote, is the need for an official address and financial difficulties. While steps have been taken to ease these barriers in Luxembourg, “it is also clear that a (small) number of people still fall through the safety net,” the report concluded.