THE SLOVAK Health Ministry is preparing a new law that, if approved by MPs, would introduce more fees for health services as of April 1, 2004.
The ministry said the introduction of the new fees would save the state budget Sk5 billion (€119 million). As part of the law, the ministry produced a list of 3,000 diagnoses and illnesses, of which just over a half will be fully covered by health insurance, the Slovak daily SME wrote.
The rest will be only partly covered by insurers, ranging from 5 to 90 percent of the price for respective health services, and patients will have to cover the outstanding sums.
Patients will have to pay full prices for treatment of diagnoses that are off the ministry list. The ministry also wants the insurance firms to only cover urgent care, treatment of young children no older than six years, and preventive examinations.
