State to Boost VsZP Health Insurer's Capital by Another €98 million
Bratislava, November 11 (TASR) – The state will boost the capital of state-run health insurer Vseobecna zdravotna poistovna (VsZP) again, this time by €98 million.
The proposal for a further capital boost for VsZP was approved by the Government at its session on Wednesday.
According to the Government, the refunding of health care by VsZP would be in jeopardy without such a financial injection. VsZP covers health care for 58 percent of the public.
The Health Ministry has rejected objections that this represents illegal state aid, pointing to a verdict of the European Court of Justice from 2014, which turned down a complaint from private Slovak insurer Dovera over a similar matter.
The state also pumped €100 million into VsZP in October to increase its equity. Both private insurers, Dovera and Union, called this move “unfair”, but Finance Minister Eduard Heger (OLANO) responded by saying that he didn’t see any reason why the state should bear losses when private insurers refuse to share their profits.
VsZP: Thorough Cleaning Necessary, Coronavirus Has Slashed Incomes
VsZP has been underfunded for years, and it must undergo a “thorough cleaning” in a transparent manner to make it work effectively, said VsZP spokesman Matej Neumann on Tuesday in reaction to a €98-million financial injection from the Government.
According to him, the new leadership has launched cost optimisation, but VsZP has seen a significant slump in incomes from insurance premiums related to the coronavirus outbreak, while at the same time its expenditures have increased by at least €36 million due to the same reason.
Dovera: Government Discriminating against 2 million Policyholders
By providing a €98-million injection to VsZP, the Government is continuing its discriminatory approach towards more than 2 million people insured by private companies, stated private insurer Dovera on Wednesday.
“We’re asking in the name of the 1.5 million policyholders insured by Dovera why they should pay via their taxes for the inefficient management of the state-run insurer,” said Dovera PR specialist Matej Stepiansky.
