As Kujundžić has reiterated, the system is in threat of collapse. One of the possible options to plug healthcare holes is to introduce mandatory supplemental health insurance.
Confronted with debt growing at a monthly amount of 50 million kuna and without an idea how to reduce it, Healthcare Minister Milan Kujundžić stated again that the income of the healthcare budget needs to be increased, at the expense of citizens, Poslovni Dnevnik reported on May 6, 2017.
If not, as Kujundžić has reiterated, the system is in threat of collapse. One of the possible options to plug healthcare holes is to introduce mandatory supplemental health insurance, the Minister has said, modelled upon neighbouring Slovenia.
“We need to open the dialogue on who should pay, meaning where to get more money. It is a topic that needs to be opened soon, as that will help reduce the risk for people if the healthcare system seriously or irreparably collapses,” said Kujundžić.
It seems the first to be targeted will be supplemental health insurance, currently at 70 kuna per month, which covers complete participation for health services, except the B list of medications. Kujundžić has not yet released specific ideas on how much the cost of health services for citizens should rise, but cites the example of Slovenia, where supplemental insurance was made mandatory, Novi List reported.
All Slovenians are now obligated to pay for supplemental insurance, in seven income categories. Those with minimum wage pay 20 euro per month, those with average wage 29 euro, abut as much as before, and those whose wages are five times above the state average pay 75 euros. The Slovenian supplemental insurance policy previously had a unique price for all policy holders of around 200 kuna.
There is also another option of delimiting participation in healthcare. Participation today amounts to 20% of the price of medical services, but was capped at 2.000 kuna, the amount which a patient would pay in case of more complex treatment if they don’t hold supplemental insurance.
The growth of participation income would increase the income of healthcare institution, as well as the number of policy holders which would join the system to avoid paying high participations.
