A single state-run health insurance company should have been operating in Slovakia as of the beginning of this year according to the Government’s plans. However the whole project has been frozen for several months due to a lack of funding.
Currently there are three companies that manage the mandatory contributions to the health insurance fund collected from taxpayers. One is state owned and two others are private with the state having planned to buy them in order to create a single company. “As manager of the state treasury I have to say today that we do not have the money for it”, stated Finance Minister Peter Kažimír following Wednesday’s Cabinet session. Health Minister Zuzana Zvolenská claims that she has an estimate of how much money it would require, but the real price of private health insurance companies will be determined by experts. The shareholders of the private companies have opposed plans to create one state owned insurer.
