Slovakia’s prime minister said Wednesday he wants to reduce national healthcare to a single state-owned insurer as of 2014, and is mulling the takeover of two private health insurance firms.
Prime Minister Robert Fico said Slovakia could either buy the privately-owned insurers outright or nationalise them with compensation.
“I would prefer an agreement with private insurers, but I’m not afraid to say that expropriation is a legitimate way too,” Fico told journalists in Bratislava.
The price for both companies will be set by an international auditor, he added.
“We want to introduce a system of one health insurer instead of several health insurers,” said Fico, who is also the leader of the Smer social democratic party.
“Privately-owned health insurers should leave the Slovak market,” said Fico, often labelled a populist by the country’s right-wing opposition. “Slovakia’s health care system has been suffering from a lack of funding, while private insurers turn a profit based on public money,” said the prime minister, adding the money should be instead channelled for the health care providers.
All Slovak citizens have to pay health insurance but they can choose between the state-owned General Health Insurance Company (VsZP), the private-owned Dovera or Union insurance, owned by Dutch insurance group Eureko.
The insurers then pay doctors and hospitals, but there is not much difference between the quality of health care for state-insured and private-insured clients.
Bratislava, July 25, 2012 (AFP)
