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Tag: legislation
Slovakia lost the international arbitration over shareholder of Union health insurance company - Achmea. Due to ban of profit, which was adopted by Smer during its first government, Slovakia must to pay € 22 million to Dutch company Achmea. Achmea, however, would probably did not pay any profit, because it reported only combined losses until last year. Last year, for the first time reported a profit of nine million euros. Robert Fico qualified the decision as not legally binding and added that no one will pay anything. Minister of Finance Peter Kažimír said that the decision is unenforceable.
Dutch company Achmea that owns Union health insurance company won a lawsuit with the Slovakia. The verdict was announced by an international arbitral tribunal on Friday. It is not clear whether Slovakia will be able to appeal. Slovakia according to verdict, in 2006 and 2007 violated an investment agreement with the Netherlands. The first government of Robert Fico (Smer) banned private insurance companies to pay a profit. Constitutional Court decided that this step was unconstitutional already last year. State must pay € 22 million for compensation for the damages and € 3 million as court costs. Owners of the Union originally asked for € 64.7 million.
After two years old promise of former Minister of Health Ivan Uhliarik (KDH) about better monitoring of decubitis in hospitals, only present Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská came with the Government ordinance these days. According to daily SME, the improvement is minimal; whereas the new government ordinance only amplifies the scale of decubitis ranking and the key parameter which accounts their occurrence did not change. On the present, there are some hospitals which do not report any decubitis during all year to the health insurances companies. The better reporting should be guaranteed by new legal standards of the Ministry, which it is allegedly already working on.
Hundreds of patients are already today making appointments for operations in 2015, but also in 2017. Waiting times depend on capacities of hospitals, but also on the financial possibilities of three health insurance companies. Ministry of Health for now does not have a plan how to solve the waiting lists, when the three insurance companies will be merged. According to the spokeswoman of the Ministry, these issues will be solved by the law, which will be subsequently prepared after implementing of unitary system.
Representatives of Slovak Chamber of Pharmacists brought members of Parliament the book Gorila. This way they want to draw their attention to the fact, that proposal to the act on surcharges for pharmaceuticals is according to the Chamber made expressly in behalf of financial group Penta and its network of pharmacies Dr. Max. Beside the book the representatives of the Chamber passed also the open letter, in which they ask members of Parliament to refuse the proposal to the amendment to the act on extend and conditions of payments for pharmaceuticals.
Political party OĽaNO wants to introduce to political party Smer-SD the amendment to the act that would prohibit the profit of health insurance companies. According to the head of the party, Igor Matovič, it would be an amendment to the constitutional act, which would newly define the health insurance as a public interest, and amendment to the act on health insurance companies, which would prohibit their profits. Profit could be according to him created from savings from package, which is legally intended for their overhead expenses.
In case that Parliament adopts the act on expropriation of private health insurance companies, company Penta Investments will likely turn to Constitutional Court. This financial group, which is a shareholder of health insurance company Dôvera, according to its co-owner Martin Kúšik, does not have a good position in terms of arbitration or court action. He added, that policyholders will benefit the most from maintaining of competition in health insurance, as they will be able to choose, which service is most convenient for them.
Proposal of political party Smer for allowing of discounts in pharmacies up to half of surcharge for pharmaceutical is according to the Vice President of political party SDKÚ, Viliam Novotný, a pig in a poke. According to him this will aggrieve patients and health insurance companies. It will be, according to him, besides this, a non-transparent system, as the pharmacy will not have to publish the amount of offered discount. Patient will be according to him confused in this new system of discounts, as currently patient knows that he/she runs on the loyalty system and knows how to claim the discount.
Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská wants to allow pharmacies to provide patients with discounts from surcharges for pharmaceuticals at the expense of their margin. It will depend on pharmacy, whether it will use this possibility and what amount of discount it will offer. Discount, however, cannot exceed the half of surcharge. Zvolenská wants this change to enter into force from January. The change should be a part of the reform of pharmaceutical acts, which will prohibit the loyalty discounts in pharmacies. Slovak Pharmaceutical Chamber is surprised by this proposal. Its Vice President Ondrej Sukeľ suspects Penta of a pressure.
Minister of Health perceives the extension of validity of licences for ambulances rather as a technical adjustment, which should have resulted from the technical requirements of the providers. Amendment to the act on healthcare providers should besides longer licences bring also the changes in the way of the selection procedure of the providers of ambulances, where the new requirements are being added. This way, according to Zvolenská, the Ministry responds to the finding of the court, where the previous system of distribution of licences, made by former Minister Richard Raši, has ended. The reason for this should have been the requirements in the frame of selection proceeding beyond the law.
