The first version of the new law withdrawn last week caused a lot of dissatisfaction among people, while the private sector and the associations in the field backed it. Dissatisfaction drove people to protest in Bucharest and other cities for almost a week now.
The return of Raed Arafat as subsecretary of state in the Health Ministry, after having resigned a week ago, in protest to the provisions about emergency medicine in the new law, has relieved some of the pressure.
Now that the Dutch model the authorities proposed for reforming the healthcare system in Romania, which entailed complete privatization, has been dropped, a question comes up: what model will Romanians choose?
The project withdrawn from public debate last week stipulated that every Romanian would have to choose a private insurer to sign a contract with and could also get a voluntary health insurance to cover any additional costs. At the same time, emergency cases would have remained free while a visit to the family physician would have still been subject to co-payment.
The Dutch model in the version rejected by the public opinion is practically the “extreme’ version of the healthcare systems in Europe. Public health fund contributions are mandatory in Europe, except for the Netherlands, reveals a ZF analysis that took into account France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary.
In Hungary for instance, the National Health Insurance Fund is the main source used to cover healthcare expenses, complemented by other sources, as well. The same goes for Czech Republic and Poland.
Bigger economies like France and Germany introduced private insurance, so that approximately 10.5% of Germans have a health insurance policy.
According to the data of the Health Insurance Companies Association of Germany, the minimum amount an 18-year old pays is EUR150. The same sources show that those who get insurance may choose from either the public system or from the private system it they earn more than EUR4,200 per month. Premiums are usually lower in the private sector, while care is more expensive or better, otherwise no one would go for such insurance.
Healthcare costs in France are managed by the National Health Insurance House and a public insurance usually covers 75% of the expenses of a patient. The other costs can be covered by private insurance.
On the other hand, Poland does not allow people to leave the public insurance system, but the private insurance system has developed, too, so that it got 20% of the healthcare expenses in 2010.
Representatives of the private sector have told Ziarul Financiar on various occasions that they would prefer a gradual reform, such as the increase of the role of the private system by raising deductibility of private health insurance.
The government set aside EUR5.5 billion for the expenses of the Health Ministry and of the National Health Insurance House this year. Dividing the money to the 20 million people in Romania, the amount allocated stands at EUR23 per month per person.
Private sector sells monthly subscriptions for less than EUR23, while the insurance costs are a bit higher.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)