The study, prepared by Deloitte for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, estimates that health insurance contributions from Ukrainian citizens reached about PLN 4.4 billion (USD 1.2 billion) last year.
The National Health Fund (NFZ), Poland’s public health insurer, spent just over PLN 2.5 billion on their treatment.
The figures cover all Ukrainian citizens in Poland, rather than refugees alone. A similar gap was recorded in 2024, when Ukrainians paid about PLN 3.8 billion in health contributions while their treatment cost about PLN 2.2 billion.
Piotr Karniej, a professor at WSB Merito University in Wrocław and a health care expert, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that the figures contradicted claims that Ukrainians were exploiting Poland’s health system.
“The revenue associated with Ukrainians working in Poland clearly exceeds expenditure on their treatment,” Karniej said. “You could say that through their work, these people financed their own health care.”
The report put average NFZ spending on a Ukrainian refugee at PLN 694 in 2025, compared with PLN 4,640 for a Polish citizen.
Karniej said the difference could partly be explained by the age and health of the Ukrainian population in Poland. Although many elderly people arrived after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, those now living in Poland are predominantly young or middle-aged, he said.
Chronic illnesses, cancer and cardiovascular disease are less common among them than among the Polish population.
He also cited language barriers, unfamiliarity with the Polish health system and different habits in seeking medical care. Ukrainians were less likely to visit a doctor for minor illnesses such as colds or short-term infections, Karniej said.
The health figures form part of the third Deloitte-UNHCR study of the economic effects of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, presented on Thursday at the PAP Press Center.
The report estimates that refugees from Ukraine accounted for 2.4 percent of Poland’s gross domestic product in 2025, equivalent to about PLN 94 billion.
Their employment rate reached 76 percent in 2025, up from 61 percent in 2023 and 69 percent in 2024. That compared with an employment rate of about 75 percent among Polish citizens.
Ukrainian medical staff have also entered Poland’s health system. In 2025, Ukrainians accounted for 2.4 percent of doctors working in Poland and 0.8 percent of nurses.
Karniej said Poland should help Ukrainian doctors and nurses meet language and professional requirements where necessary rather than exclude them from the labor market, particularly as the country continues to need qualified medical staff.
(rt)
Source: PAP