Private healthcare growing thanks to EHIF contracts, private insurance

Private healthcare in Estonia is growing. Behind the expansion are both contracts with the Estonian Health Insurance Fund (EHIF) as well as employer-paid private insurance. This week alone, two major private clinics opened their doors in Tallinn.
Previously, adults in Northern Estonia in need of rehabilitation care had to travel to Haapsalu, on the west coast, for care; now, an outpatient clinic is open in the heart of Central Tallinn as well. It is at this private clinic that a state-of-the-art upper limb exoskeleton and self-adaptive treadmill are now available to patients.
"Our goal is to keep the robotic devices busy for up to ten hours a day – and per device," said Priit Eelmäe, director of the Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Division at Medicum.
"Often those who need these services are unable to pay," he continued. "I believe 50-70 percent could certainly be EHIF volumes."
Medicum clinics currently hold nearly €20 million in contracts with Estonia's public health insurance fund, including €2 million for rehabilitation services.
"Of Medicum's services, I think a very, very large majority are EHIF-funded," acknowledged EHIF Partner Management Department director Marko Tähnas. "Looking at the current situation, yes, funding has increased. In Medicum's case, for example, more than 30 percent in recent years. One in every four or five outpatient admissions at our public expense is currently already at private clinics."
As of this July, EHIF will be terminating its family doctor therapy fund in its current form, cutting out referrals to physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) doctors, known as physiatrists, and losing patient copays altogether. The transition to the new system began with the new year already.
"While previously, patients had to pay part of it themselves and part of it was paid by EHIF, in the future, the entire bill will be sent to EHIF," Tähnas explained. "And that is why private clinics are now increasingly signing contracts with us."
The 22-clinic Meliva likewise opened a major new clinic in the heart of the Estonian capital this week. This clinic, however, doesn't yet have any EHIF contracts.
"Currently we have a contract in Tartu for specific specialties – gynecology, ophthalmologists," said Meliva CEO Marja-Liisa Alop. That volume has gradually increased. When the 2026 procurement period begins, of course we're hoping that EHIF services can be used in this building too."
Granting Meliva the certainty to open new clinics is employers' increasing interest in private health insurance.
"Private insurance has seen rather robust growth in recent years," Alop highlighted, noting that each year, significantly more money or potential sources of funding end up in private insurance.
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Editor: Marko Tooming, Aili Vahtla