Financial obstacles increasingly block access to healthcare, study shows
Four in 10 people in French-speaking Belgium forfeited a healthcare service in 2024, according to study by mutual insurance provider Solidaris. Financial obstacles and inequalities in access to care remain major problems, particularly for women.
The results of the study, which surveyed 1,000 people and has been carried out every year since 2015, are worrying, Solidaris says. Nearly one woman in two gave up at least one healthcare treatment in 2024 for financial reasons, compared with one in three men.
The gaps between respondents in the middle and the most precarious social groups are also narrowing, suggesting a trend towards a more precarious “lower middle class”.
Persistent social inequalities
Belgian households spend a larger proportion of their income on healthcare than those in neighbouring countries, according to the survey.
“This situation is partly linked to the lack of price security and the underfunding of certain types of care,” Solidaris says. “The trends reflect persistent social inequalities and an increase in the precariousness of the most vulnerable profiles.”
The organisation proposes guaranteeing a “dignified” income for people who are unable to work by raising minimum benefits to 10 per cent above the poverty line from the first month of incapacity, compared with the third month at present.
It is also calling for greater financial protection for the most vulnerable people by banning fee supplements for low-income households, and for better reimbursement of treatments insufficiently covered by health insurance, such as dental treatment and mental health care.
Illustration © PHOTO CONNECTIMAGE
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