FORMER Finance Minister and vice-chairman of the opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) Ivan Mikloš considers the government's intention to turn the two state-run health insurers from joint stock companies back into public institutions and to enable them to draw financial aid from the state to be a very bad idea.
“It will lead to the mismanagement of their finances and to a growth in the debt of the health sector," Mikloš told a news conference.
Mikloš said that such a step went against to the government's program statement. "The government pledged to secure an equal position for health insurance companies in order to prevent the ineffective use of their financial resources," he said.
In addition to the cabinet’s intention to require all policyholders whose premiums are paid by the state to take out insurance with these two health insurers, the government’s latest steps will hurt health insurers, Mikloš claimed.
Mikloš said that the government has spent billions of crowns over the past few years to settle health sector debts. If the new government adopts the announced changes, they will only increase debt in the sector and eventually hurt the health care system.
