THE MERGER of two state-run health insurance companies, Všeobecná Zdravotná Poisťovňa and Spoločná Zdravotná Poisťovňa, is likely to be governed by law. The Slovak cabinet gave the go-ahead to a draft revision to the law on health insurance companies as well as a proposal by the Health Ministry that the legislation be handled in fast-track proceedings in parliament, the SITA newswire reported.
The change in the law is to become effective on December 21, 2009. The ministry said that slow decision-making by the Antitrust Office of the Slovak Republic motivated this proposed bill because that office has been examining the planned merger since summer and has not stated when it will arrive at a conclusion.
For that reason, the Health Ministry said that it had become convinced that the proposed merger planned for January 1, 2010 was “seriously threatened”.
The Health Ministry stated that a delay in the merger would lead to a lower amount being saved on expenditures in 2010, a potential drop in the number of insured persons and complications in administrative tasks, for example the annual reconciliation of paid health insurance premiums.
