KDH Tables Resolution Seeking to Assess Merger of Health-insurance Companies

Bratislava, 10 September (TASR) - The opposition Christian Democrats (KDH) want to oblige the government to assess the consequences of market concentration in the public health-insurance sector in connection with the planned merger of health-insurance companies Dovera and Union, KDH MP Peter Stachura told a press conference on Thursday, adding that he's submitted a draft resolution to Parliament in this regard. The party is calling on the government to assess, before any market changes take place, the impact on patients, health-care providers, the financing of the system and the state's ability to intervene in the event of a crisis. Stachura wants Parliament to bind the government with these requirements. KDH plans to ask the government about what the state would do if a private insurance company were to acquire a significant majority of policyholders and outgrow state-run health-insurer VsZP. "The government must state where the line is beyond which the state would simply stand by helplessly as it lost its ability to guarantee the stability of public health insurance. If a private insurer is emerging today with almost half the market, we need to know what the state's plan is in the event that this proportion becomes even more pronounced in a few years," warned Stachura, adding that the state must also strengthen VsZP so that Slovakia doesn't lose its own powerful tool for keeping the system stable. The MP considers it to be absurd that there should be only two health-insurance companies in Slovakia. According to the draft resolution, the government should assess the adequacy of the legal framework governing conflicts of interest, "ownership and close ties in relation to groups operating simultaneously in public health insurance, the provision of health care, the wholesale distribution of medicines and pharmacy services". According to Stachura, there are various options for how the system could operate. One of these is a unitary system involving a single health-insurance provider. Another option would be to make it compulsory for state-insured people to be covered by the state health-insurance fund. "As the state pays compulsory contributions on behalf of state-insured people, there would be a requirement for these state-insured people to be covered by the state health-insurance fund. This would at least ensure that the state health-insurance fund would have a certain market share below which it couldn't fall," he said, noting that state-insured individuals - that is, young people under 18 and pensioners over 65 - account for over 60 percent. "So, this would be the minimum threshold below which the public health-insurance scheme couldn't fall," he stated. am/df