What is Healthcare in Estonia?
'''Healthcare in Estonia''' is supervised by the [[Ministry of Social Affairs]]. It is paid for by general [[taxation]]. Estonia's health care system is based on compulsory [[insurance]]. All the providers of health services are [[Business|businesses]] governed by private law. The [[Estonian Health Insurance Fund]] pays for all the public healthcare. It takes 13% of the employee's social tax. The majority of [[General practitioner|general practitioners]] work for themselves, privately owned businesses, or local governments. Most of the [[Hospital|hospitals]] are either created by the government, municipalities, or other public organizations, or they are limited businesses owned by the local government. If a hospital has a contract with the Fund, the Estonian Health Insurance Fund will pay for necessary treatments received in a private hospital. An insured person must be either a permanent resident or a legal resident who pays the social tax. Insured people all get the healthcare they need. It does not matter how much they have paid. About 95% of the people are covered. All health care providers in Estonia must give the health information about their patients to the [[Electronic health record|digital health]] information system. Estonia's electronic record system is thought to be very good. <ref>{{Cite news|last=Lewin|first=Amy|date=8 July 2020|title=Inside Estonia's pioneering digital health service|work=Sifted|url=https://sifted.eu/articles/estonia-digital-health|access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref> It started in 1998 - before most other countries. From 2008 it covered the whole country. It is used by both hospitals and [[General practitioner|GP]]<nowiki/>s. Patients can see all their own records and control who else sees them. [[Prescription|Prescriptions]] are almost all electronic.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Read2016-11-29T14:05:00+00:00|first=Claire|title=Meet the country that's ripping up the rules on records|url=https://www.hsj.co.uk/technology-and-innovation/meet-the-country-thats-ripping-up-the-rul