The Health Ministry will transfer 4 billion zlotys to the National Health Fund budget to cover last year's overdrafts, Minister Jolanta Sobieranska-Grenda announced.
PLN 4 billion for the National Health Service for overruns for 2025
Published Feb. 23, 2026 07:52
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The leadership of the Health Ministry and the National Health Fund met with provincial marshals on Friday and after that meeting, in the afternoon, with journalists. Information about the first payer subsidy this year was key, although there were others as well.
Sobierańska-Grenda assessed during the conference that the conversation with local governments was primarily about consolidation processes, which are forced primarily by demographic changes, which require a response and reprofiling of departments and consolidation of resources. - Of course, we will support local governments in these processes, and we will also look at how they influence the maps of health needs in the regions - in order to responsibly make decisions on the configuration of individual entities, the Health Minister said.
Changes in medical entities are supported by funds from the KPO, but also by domestic financing: Sobierańska-Grenda once again confirmed preparations for launching a competition for hospitals for one billion zlotys from the Medical Fund, as well as ongoing work (talks) on launching a loan mechanism with BGK - but here no specifics were given.
The PLN 4 billion that the MZ transfers to the NFZ - as Minister Sobierańska-Grenda pointed out, these are not funds for the Medical Fund, as was the case last year - is concrete, and the NFZ has made no secret of the fact that it will need more of these "concrete" funds. NFZ President Filip Nowak recalled that for several years now, the health premium alone has not been enough to cover the cost of maintaining accessibility to services. - This is due to the many financial obligations also imposed on the National Health Fund, such as the minimum wage law, he said.
The NFZ deficit in 2026 is estimated at PLN 23 billion. The NFZ's revenues in 2026 have been planned at PLN 217.4 billion, including revenues from health premiums of PLN 184.3 billion, and a subject subsidy from the state budget of PLN 26 billion. However, it is known that, as in 2025, it will not be enough to cover all the necessary costs, especially since the MZ's savings plans, which primarily involve changes to the Minimum Wage Law, have no visible effect so far, as talks in the Trilateral Team for Health Care around amendments to the law on setting the minimum wage are at a standstill.
