Next week, the Health Commission will deal with the amendment of the financial plan of the National Health Fund for 2022. There will be more money for health services - by over PLN 9 billion.
PLN 9.25 billion more for health services. Where's the catch?
Published March 18, 2022 12:51
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At the moment, PLN 105bn is planned for benefits, so the increase is significant. Where does the money come from? Firstly, from the Polish Order, and more specifically - from the change in the rules of paying contributions by people running a business. Second, the changes in macroeconomic indicators. The financial plan of the National Health Fund was adopted in July and did not take into account any adjustments of indicators or fundamental changes introduced in the Polish Lada.
The money will be divided among voivodship branches according to the algorithm in force.
AOS will benefit the most, as expenditure will increase from slightly over PLN 7.1 billion to almost PLN 9.25 billion. However, it is hard not to notice that well over half of the additional funds (over PLN 5.1 billion) will go to hospitals. Outlays for primary health care are to increase by less than PLN 440 million. The NHF will spend only PLN 54.4 million more on dental treatment. The outlays will not change, among others for emergency access to drug technologies, highly specialized services and for drug reimbursement.
Will the extra money improve access to treatment? The fund has such expectations - especially when it comes to AOS (larger outlays are to allow the actual implementation of the abolition of the limit to specialists). However, since the beginning of the year, directors of medical institutions have been alerting about the increasing operating costs, also resulting from salary increases. Firstly, in the context of the amendment to the act on minimum wages for health care workers promised by the Ministry of Health (the Ministry of Health has already prepared the draft). Only these July increases will cost the branches several billion zlotys. However, although the Polish Order brought a significant increase in revenues to the NHF budget, directors of medical facilities already - long before July - faced the need to increase salaries (and contract rates) of employees. Therefore, additional resources mean a compensation (and not necessarily full) of the costs incurred, rather than an actual increase in the amount of money that can be spent on new benefits.
