FPP: Financing health care will require new fees and insurance

The level of health care expenditure in Poland, measured in relation to GDP, is still one of the lowest in Europe. In 2019, public health expenditure per capita, including purchasing power parity (PPS), amounted to EUR 1,174, while in the European Union, an average of EUR 2,450 per citizen is spent on health. This situation forced the introduction of legislative solutions assuming an increase in financing public health care.

However, as important as increasing the percentage of GDP on health on a regular basis is to implement mechanisms to safeguard the system's long-term subsidy, but also to ensure that these funds are spent effectively.

One of the ways to bring the quality of public health care in Poland closer to the level of other EU countries is to significantly increase its funding. Additional funding is particularly important in the context of the growing health needs of Poles resulting from demographic changes, new diseases, technological progress that enables their diagnosis and treatment, and the unmet health debt resulting from the COVID19 pandemic.

" Please note that a consistent increase in funding should be linked to the implementation and monitoring of quality and availability criteria benefits. Health budget should be highly transparent and transparent. Guaranteeing universal access to data on the expenditure of funds and information on the planned detailed financed goals are necessary to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of selected solutions " - says Łukasz Kozłowski, chief economist of the Federation of Entrepreneurs Polish.

In October 2021, an act came into force, which provides for the transfer of 7% of GDP to health care by 2027. According to the analyzes of the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs, in order to ensure statutory growth, in Health expenditure must increase by PLN 88.8 billion within 5 years. The current regulations guarantee an increase of only PLN 47.4 billion.

"In this situation, it is necessary to return to the debate on additional sources of financing for the missing PLN 41.4 billion and a multilateral discussion on the goals for which additional funds will be allocated in system - will they be benefits, salaries or capital expenditures " - adds Arkadiusz Pączka, vice-chairman of the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs.

The project CHORNE HEALTH FINANCING MONITOR by the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs was initiated to publicize the need to increase the transparency of data on financing the health care system in Poland. Basing the discussion on the financing and allocation of funds in the health care system on up-to-date data will contribute to the initiation of a multilateral dialogue aimed at developing effective system solutions.

Source: FPP