Compulsory Health Insurance Council: where will 100 million from the reserve go?
Compulsory Health Insurance Council (CHIC) approved to allocate EUR 107 million from the risk management part of the reserve of the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (CHIF) to several healthcare areas: payment for expensive tests and procedures performed in the outpatient conditions, reimbursed medicines and medical aids, medical rehabilitation and sanatorium treatment services and those provided according to prevention programmes, also, for implementation of regulations of the European Parliament and Council.
The biggest share of funds – EUR 80 million – will be used to pay the bills received by health insurance funds for reimbursed medicines and medical aids dispensed in pharmacies this year. At the end of this year, credit indebtedness is projected to be more than twice as high as it was at the end of the last year, therefore, the CHIC has decided that it is necessary to reduce this debt in order to allow for an improvement in payment of this area next year. It has also been decided to allocate EUR 13 million to pay for expensive tests and procedures carried out on outpatient conditions in order to ensure the availability of expensive tests and procedures in outpatient settings, and to ensure that all the services provided this year will be paid for by medical establishments at a rate that is higher than the one that has been applied.
Also, it has been decided that EUR 2 million will be prescribed to pay for services of priority inpatient medical rehabilitation. This group of services includes medical rehabilitation services after heart attacks, strokes, endoprosthesis, injuries and certain external influences, surgeries due to oncological diseases, etc.
The number of services provided in January-August this year increased more than 1.5 times compared to the same period last year. It is projected that planned funds will not be sufficient to cover priority rehabilitation services and therefore the CHIF decided to approve the allocation of additional funds.
It also agrees to allocate EUR 12 million to cover for health programmes and other health insurance costs. EUR 4 million of this amount will go to health services provided under preventive programmes, as the changes to the cardiovascular disease prevention and early diagnosis programme since May of this year have led to a significant increase in the number of health services provided and the amount paid for them. According to the data of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) under the Ministry of Health, in June-August of this year, the amount of costs for these services increased by 2.4 times compared to the same period last year. It is planned that more than EUR 22 million will be needed this year to pay for cardiovascular prevention programme.
CHIC has agreed that additional EUR 8 million should be allocated to implement regulations of the European Parliament and the Council guaranteeing free movement of persons and access to healthcare in EU countries. With growing awareness and use of the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) and the rising cost of healthcare, the number of bills coming from EU countries for reimbursement is steadily increasing.
Funds of the risk management part of the CHIF reserve are allocated with the decision of the Minister of Health, after the assessment of opinions of the NHIF and the CHIC. It is estimated that after allocation of these funds, the remaining amount of the risk management part of the CHIF reserve will make EUR 441 million.
(Piktochart photo)
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