OBJECTIVES: We use contingent valuation  (CV) method to elicit the willingness of the Hungarian health care consumers to pay for health care services covered by the social health insurance. METHODS: For the analysis, we use data from a household survey, which was carried out in Hungary, 2010. Respondents were selected based on a multi-stage random probability method. In total, 1037 respondents filled in the questionnaire. In the CV task respondents were asked whether they would be willing to pay in a given scenario for 1) a consultation/examination by a medical specialist, 2) for a planned surgery, if these services are provided with certain quality and access attributes. Those respondents who indicated willingness to pay were asked to point out the amount which they would be willing and able to pay. A visualization card was presented to the respondents, which described the definition of good quality and quick access and contained payment intervals. The scenario was prepared based on focus-group discussions prior to the survey and payment intervals were set based on the pre-test of the questionnaire. RESULTS: The response rate of the survey was 67%. About 66% of the respondents indicated that they would be willing to pay for a consultation and examination by a medical specialist in order to obtain services with good quality and access as described on the visualization card, on average 14 Euro (sd=21) per visit. About 56% of the respondents indicated that they would be willing to pay for a planned surgery, on average 101 Euro (sd=65) per hospital admission. CONCLUSIONS: Hungarian health care consumers are not against paying official fees for health care services covered by the social health insurance, however they expect value for their money.