Lach, Daniel Eryk2013-07-182013-07-182002Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny 64, 2002, z. 4, s. 93-108.0035-9629http://hdl.handle.net/10593/7106The common health insurance system imposes a duty of insuring a number of varied entities. However, in the method of listing entities that are obliged to take out insurance some social groups were left out. This was certainly the intention o f the legislator because although the insurance is called „common”, health insurance originates mainly from workers’ insurance, addressed primarily to impecunious hired workers. With a view to encompassing more and more social groups with the benevolence of health insurance, the legislator has been expanding the list o f entities obliged to take out health insurance, granting all the others the right for voluntary insurance. This article, whose subject has not yet been dealt with in Polish literature, attempts to evaluate the Common Health Insurance Act of 6th February 1997, which allows the possibility of voluntary health insurance. The author’s appraisal of the legislation is preceded by an account of relevant regulations in Germany, Austria, and Great Britain, all fully representative of the different types of health insurance systems.plArtykuł