SaS Accuses Health Minister Sasko of Inaction over Planned Dovera-Union Merger

Bratislava, 24 July (TASR) - The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party has criticised Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) for his failure to take action following the announced merger of private health insurers Union and Dovera, SaS MP Tomas Szalay told a press conference on Friday.
"He should reassure everyone - Union policy-holders, the people of this country, as well as health-care workers - that this merger between the Dovera and Union health-insurance companies won't harm anyone, and that it won't have any negative consequences for Slovak patients or Slovak health-care workers," said Szalay, adding that if he were the minister, he wouldn't have allowed such a situation to arise.
"If you read the SaS programme, we proposed introducing a cap on the market share that any health insurer could hold," said Szalay.
Furthermore, if Szalay were in Sasko's position, he would have tried to prevent Union from leaving the market and, following the announcement of the share acquisition, he would have immediately held talks with representatives of both private health insurers.
"I would have signed a memorandum guaranteeing that neither patients nor health-care professionals would be affected by this," added Szalay,
He asked what the health minister is doing in this situation, also mentioning President Peter Pellegrini in this connection.
"We're standing in front of the Presidential Palace to find out where Kamil Sasko is; whether he's perhaps already submitted his resignation or thrown in the towel. I've prepared a request for information asking the president whether the resignation of Health Minister Kamil Sasko has already been submitted to the Presidential Palace and whether he's accepted it," said Szalay.
Regarding the merger between Dovera and Union, he also warned that Dovera could become the largest health-insurance company in Slovakia in the future, taking over some of the current powers of state-owned health-insurance company VsZP.
Achmea B.V., stakeholder of health-insurer Union, and health-insurance company Dovera, a member of the Penta investment group, have signed a share-transfer agreement under which Union will be acquired by Dovera. The plan is to merge Union with Dovera after obtaining the required approvals.
The heads of both health-insurance companies, Martin Kultan (Dovera) and Michal Spanar (Union), said that the relevant authorities could issue their opinions within a few months, but they don't believe that there are any obstacles to the merger. They also claimed not to see any reason why it should lead to reduced competition on the market.
Following the announcement of the deal, the Health Ministry stated that it will ensure that funds from public health insurance are used in accordance with applicable legislation and that the principle of providing the best value for public money for patients is observed.