Will there be drastic increases in the price of commercial medical services?

On April 19, the deadline for submitting comments expired, they provided their comments on Tuesday, among others Presidium of the Supreme Medical Council, Polish Federation of Hospitals and Employers of the Republic of Poland. Although organizations place the emphasis differently, the common denominator of both opinions is the doubt as to the sources of financing the increases, the scale of which - only for entities operating in the public system - is estimated by the Ministry of Health at about PLN 7.2 billion only in the second half of 2022. This is gigantic money, so it seems reasonable to ask about financial guarantees for medical institutions. Those that operate on the basis of contracts can count on funds transferred by the National Health Fund (the question of whether it will be really "additional" money is still open).

The Act on minimum wages, however, applies to all healthcare entities, including those that provide services only on a commercial basis. In their opinion, employers of the Republic of Poland directly state that due to the lack of financing sources, commercial establishments that treat without a contract should be excluded from the increases. Employers emphasize that the increases will not only translate into the situation of public health care units, but also - and perhaps even above all - those that operate outside the public system. - Therefore, it seems justified to exclude private entities from the proposed pay-rise scheme, since this sector has been independently and successfully providing patients with access to medical services for many years, independently taking care of ensuring both clinical excellence and cost-effectiveness, they state.

Such a solution is unlikely, however, especially since the minimum wage guarantees in all entities have been in force since the beginning of the act regulating wages in the health care sector. And for years, in the regulatory impact assessment attached to subsequent projects - also in the newest one - there are indications regarding the assumed sources of financing the increases: the Ministry of Health assumes that after the change in regulations, the prices of commercial services will go up. - The draft act may have an indirect impact, due to the increase in remuneration in healthcare entities, on the amount of fees for medical services in healthcare entities in the private sector - we read in the RIA to the consulted amendment.

It can be assumed that because the scale of the July increases is much higher than the previous ones, also the effects for medical facilities - and thus indirectly and for the patients who use them - will be much more serious than the previous ones. It is worth remembering that the rise in prices in the health care sector is one of the driving forces behind core inflation. In the second half of the year, its impact on the inflation level will certainly not diminish.