Private health insurance has historically been characterised as voluntary, for-profit commercial coverage. However, in looking at private coverage around the world, it is evident that a wide variety of arrangements are described under the umbrella of private insurance and that the boundaries between public insurance3 and private insurance are becoming increasingly blurred (7). The OECD Adhoc Group on Private Insurance uses the difference in how insurance is funded as the key criterion to distinguish between private and public insurance. (8) Ultimately, all money comes from household income, but in public insurance programs this money is channelled through the State, via a general or social insurance tax collector, whereas in private insurance the money is paid directly to the risk pooling entity (figure 1).