Slovak health insurance companies demand €44m from government

2010-02-10

Slovak health insurance funds are demanding additional money for those citizens whose insurance premiums are paid from the state budget, according to a report in the Slovak daily publication SME. Having analysed their financial results for 2009, the insurance funds claim that the government paid them €44m less than required. The Dovera health insurance fund has demanded an additional €16m, the Vseobecna Zdravotna Poistovna state insurance fund is asking for €24.6m, and the Union health insurance company wants another €3.7m.
The underpayments occurred because the unemployment rate was higher than expected: it increased from 8.4% in January 2009 to 12.7% in December 2009. The obligatory health insurance premiums paid by the state last year came to €1.16bn, whereas €1.28bn has been allocated this year. Despite the fact that this constitutes an increase of more than 10%, health insurance companies fear that this positive effect will be nullified by unemployment, which is expected to grow further in 2010. Furthermore, because of the economic crisis, a reduction in income from health insurance premiums paid by the self-employed is also expected. The Association of Slovak Health Insurance Companies estimates that in 2010 health insurance funds will have €3.57bn at their disposal, which constitutes a 1.43% reduction in comparison with 2009.