Factsheet – Hungary
Health system overview
Hungary operates a tax-funded universal healthcare system administered by the state-owned National Health Insurance Fund (NEAK). According to the OECD, coverage extends to virtually 100% of the population, with free care for children under 16, students, parents with infants, pensioners over 64, low-income groups, people with disabilities, and church employees. While universal in principle, access barriers persist (e.g. returning citizens without proof of foreign contributions). Health spending is financed about 72,5% from public sources (government transfers and compulsory schemes) and 27,5% from private sources, mostly out-of-pocket payments—well above the EU average. Voluntary health insurance remains small and complementary, while high out-of-pocket costs reflect persistent access constraints in the public system.
Key stakeholders:
Ministry of Interior (formerly Ministry of Human Resources / Human Capacities) – Sets strategic direction, controls financing, determines benefit entitlements, and regulates the healthcare system. JA ImpleMENTALOECD;
National Health Insurance Fund (NEAK) – Manages the single-payer insurance system, negotiates provider contracts and drug pricing, handles reimbursement. healthinformationportal.euOECD
National Centre for Public Health and Pharmacy (NCPHP) – Oversees public health, epidemiological monitoring, pharmaceutical regulation.
National Directorate-General for Hospitals – Implements strategic healthcare decisions, supervises public hospitals, and manages inpatient care planning.
Directorate-General for Public Procurement (KEF), under the Ministry of Finance, acts as Hungary’s central purchasing body, managing government-wide procurement and logistics.
Hungary: Country Health Profile 2023 (EN)
https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/countries/hungary
https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications/i/hungary-health-system-review-2011
Funding & budget allocation
National Programs: The NRDI Fund combined with GINOP Plus innovation calls will bring around HUF 215 billion (approx. €580 million) in domestic support for R&D and innovation in 2025, including a HUF 12 billion allocation specifically for health innovations.
EU & International Funding: Hungary benefits from broader EU RDI instruments such as Horizon Europe and other Structural Funds (€6.1 billion under GINOP Plus for 2021–2027) targeting SME innovation, along with programs to boost digital readiness.
Recovery &resilience plan: n/a
Care delivery & purchasing
Hospitals/public service providers only participate in centralized procurement procedures. Recent moves toward centralization: New legislation is introducing centralized supply chains, including a government-run central inventory hub for medical consumables and the creation of a project company to centralize procurement of hospital pharmaceuticals from 2025.
In Hungary, certain policy options considered necessary by national stakeholders cannot be implemented due to restrictions imposed by EU regulations.
Digital health infrastructure
There is a national EHR (electronic health record) system, but interoperability is unfortunately not common.
Hungary’s national electronic health record system, the EESZT (Elektronikus Egészségügyi Szolgáltatási Tér), serves as a central eHealth infrastructure connecting general practitioners, outpatient and inpatient providers, pharmacies, and more. Since 2017, its use has been mandatory, supporting seamless data exchange—more than 75 million medical documents and ~180 million doctor–patient interactions are processed annually through the platform. While the system is mandatory and widely adopted, true interoperability remains a challenge.
Reimbursement for digital services
In practice, reimbursement for digital health is limited to narrowly defined telemedicine services (eg, remote consultation, follow‑up, selected monitoring) delivered by contracted providers under NEAK rules, with strict documentation and coding requirements; there is currently no standardized, national pathway for reimbursing prescription digital therapeutics (DTx) as in Germany, so most DTx are not reimbursed in Hungary.
Key challenges & priorities
Key Pain Points:
Aging population – Low home- and community-care coverage, long waiting lists, and limited geriatric capacity.
Chronic diseases – Insufficient prevention and early detection reduce healthy life years.
Telehealth – Limited integration of telemedicine and remote monitoring for multimorbidity.
Long-term care financing – Misaligned with demographic trends.
National priorities:
- Tackle aging population
- Mitigate persistent hospital debt – caused by structural underfunding, ad-hoc settlements, and unrealistic procurement prices; reforms aim to update NEAK tariffs, shorten supplier payment terms, and introduce multi-year financing with stricter controls.
- Address supplier exposure – hospital arrears heavily impact medtech vendors, leading to delivery delays, financial risk, and service disruptions.
