The OZZL Residents' Agreement has sharply criticized the reduction in the health premium that the Sejm voted through. In an open letter, they appeal to the President of the Republic of Poland to refer the bill for reconsideration, pointing to the dangerous financial consequences and the risk of further deterioration in patients' access to health services.
Billion-dollar shortfall in the National Health Fund. Resident doctors appeal to Andrzej Duda
Published April 8, 2025 08:16
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The OZZL Residents' Agreement has issued an appeal to President Andrzej Duda opposing the reduction of the health premium. The change was passed by the Sejm despite the growing financial deficit in the National Health Fund, which is expected to reach as much as PLN 15 billion in 2024.
According to the doctors, the effect of the adopted law will be a decrease in revenue to the National Health Fund by another PLN 4.6 billion in 2026. For comparison - this is more than double the annual cost of financing chemotherapy (PLN 2.1 billion) and almost as much as is spent on all psychiatry and addiction treatment (PLN 5.7 billion) according to the Fund's financial plan for 2024.
Although the government has announced compensation for lost funds from the state budget, the Residents' Agreement points out that this is not written into law and remains only a political declaration - with no guarantee of continuation in subsequent years. It is also unclear how much money would go to the Fund as part of this compensation.
Doctors remind that Poland is already among the EU countries with the lowest health care spending. It ranks third from the bottom, with as much as 27% of treatment costs covered by patients themselves. In their view, any further deterioration of the financial situation in the system is a threat to the health security of citizens - threatening, among other things, the cancellation of treatments, limited access to medicines and longer queues to specialists.
The agreement also warns against attempts to shift responsibility for the consequences of the decision onto doctors. As noted in the appeal, access to health services is directly dependent on the decisions of politicians, not on the work of medical personnel.
As a result, the organization is appealing to the President of the Republic of Poland to refer the law lowering the health premium for reconsideration. According to resident doctors, only such a step can stop further degradation of the public health care system and guarantee patients real access to needed services.
Source: OZZL Residents' Agreement
