EVERY employed Slovak contributes almost €2,000 to the health-care system annually, the Health Insurers Association (ZZP) informed the TASR newswire.
This sum consists of payroll deductions, cash payments at doctors’ offices and pharmacies and the portion of tax used for health-care deductions on behalf of state policyholders (those exempted from paying individual contributions for a variety of reasons). The ZZP maintains that every employed Slovak works approximately two-and-a-half months to finance the health-care sector, and thus urges patients to demand quality.
“As for the financing, it’s okay to have a system based on solidarity, with economically active policyholders sharing the costs for health care,” explained ZZP president Katarína Kafková. “In this way, for example, they contribute to the treatment of chronically ill patients.”
The problem, according to her, is not the funding, per se, but inefficient spending and inadequate supervision of procurement processes in hospitals.
The ZZP is recommending that politicians map out a systematic reform of the health-care system aimed at boosting the quality of treatment and procedures. “Patients should know which providers offer quality,” Kafková told TASR. She maintained that patients should be directly involved in the decision-making process and be aware of what they are getting for their money.
