Prime Minister Robert Fico would like first decisions regarding the expropriation of health-insurers to take place in 2014, he said on Slovak Radio's political discussion show 'Sobotne dialogy' (Saturday Dialogues), thereby confirming the Government's intention to install a unitary state health-insurer.
“We have everything ready, we only need to finalize some very complicated laws,” said Fico. When the legislation is ready, the Government will, according to Fico, proceed with evaluating the health insurance companies and will then give them a purchase offer. “If they refuse this offer, we will simply expropriate them for compensation,” said Fico refusing to specify the price for expropriation, as the whole process is only at the beginning. However, Prime Minister believes that its cost will be multiple times smaller than the loss incurred to state by the profits the health insurance companies get to keep now.
Fico says that every step in the process of expropriation will be made with respect to the Constitution and international law, so insurance companies have no reason to file an appeal against the state's decision to expropriate them. Similar situations have happened before in case related to the ban on health insurers retaining their profits. Like the recent ruling of German Federal Court of Justice against Slovakia's appeal on the matter of the arbitration court ruling from 2012 obliging Slovakia to pay €25 million in compensation to Dutch company Achmea, which owns the Slovak health insurer Union. However, Fico says Slovakia has not lost the case as yet.
