Polish health minister signs off on NFZ’s 2011 budget despite criticism

2010-08-24

Health minister Ewa Kopacz has approved the National Health Fund (NFZ)’s proposed financial plan for 2011. The decision drew sharp criticism from providers in several voivodships, notably Mazowieckie and Slaskie, which are facing significant reductions in their contracts. It is also the first NFZ plan to be approved in the face of opposition from MPs on the Sejm health committee.
Under the document, the Fund expects to raise just over PLN 60bn (€15bn) from mandatory healthcare contributions in 2011. This would represent an increase of 8.8% compared with the plan for this year. Of the collected sum, PLN 56.6bn (€14.2bn), or 94.3%, is to be spent on health treatment and drug reimbursement, up by 4.7% in comparison with the original plan for this year. (PLN 580m or €145m is to be set aside to a reserve fund, while the remaining PLN 661m or €166m will be spent on administrative costs).
Yet the overall increase masks considerable differences between voivodships. Five regions, including two with the biggest healthcare expenditures (Mazowieckie and Slaskie; the others are Pomorskie, Dolnoslaskie and Lodzkie), will see their NFZ budgets fall, due to a new allocation mechanism that favours poorer provinces in Eastern Poland. Furthermore, the expenditure level originally envisaged for 2010 has since been raised by PLN 2.4bn (€601m) thanks to higher-than-expected receipts from mandatory contributions, which makes the NFZ's 2011 proposal appear even less generous in comparison with this year.