By: Nova24TV.si
With 54 coalition votes in favour and 24 opposition votes against, the long-term care law was adopted. It will be implemented starting from January 1st, 2024, one year later than the initially planned date for the implementation of the law from the previous government, which was halted by Golob’s government, claiming it was not feasible. Not only will the new law impoverish retirees, but it also raises concerns about poorly considered provisions in the law that will further reduce the income of certain individuals and, consequently, the quality of care for retirees.
“For roughly the same range of services as enacted by the current law, the law we are considering today introduces a new tax, a new contribution that everyone will have to pay,” SDS MP Zvone Černač highlighted the key difference in the new law. The adopted long-term care law emphasises the introduction of a contribution for long-term care, which will also be deducted from retirees’ net pensions. Yes, you heard it right. Not only will they take more from retirees, but due to the shortcomings of the law, the quality of their care will also be lowered, as the new law undervalues the work of healthcare workers.
According to the opposition SDS, the new long-term care law is a poor copy of the previous law, the implementation of which was halted by the current government, even though the categories of beneficiaries and services are identical, and alleged novelties, such as e-care, already exist and are being implemented for 5,000 beneficiaries. Golob’s coalition had falsely claimed a year ago that the previous law was unworkable and thus deprived people of their rights derived from the long-term care law for a year. After a year, they came up with a new law using a procedure typically reserved for wartime legislation, as stated by SDS. SDS MP Zvone Černač believes that the only key difference is the new contribution that burdens all citizens. There is no rational reason for the government’s actions; it is driven by revenge and political animosity with the aim of destroying everything the previous government under Janez Janša had achieved.
Work in institutions will be poorly paid, and the quality of services will be lower
However, what Golob’s government failed to emphasise after deciding to take additional money from retirees is that the care recipient will be able to provide care and receive a certain contribution for it. And for healthcare workers, as economist Matej Lahovnik wrote on Twitter, “work in institutional nursing will be less well paid, even though they care for a larger number of patients, not to mention supervision”, so the quality of services for pensioners will further decrease. This was also highlighted by Dr Igor Muženič, a physician and president of the Family Physicians’ Union, who wrote that “a nurse with two elderly parents will now earn 1.5 times more if she takes care of them compared to working in healthcare. However, a specialist physician will have approximately 30% lower pay if they make the same choice. What could possibly go wrong?”
Černač: The only key difference is the new tax
As Černač explained, the current government claims that the new law places more emphasis on home care, while the existing law focuses on institutional forms of care. This is not true, just as it is untrue that the new law introduces a caregiver for a family member, which was already established by the existing law. “For approximately the same scope of services as provided by the existing law, the new law introduces a new contribution that everyone will have to pay: employees, farmers, self-employed individuals, and retirees. All of them will have to contribute an additional 620 million euros annually, which means 520 euros per year on average salary,” he emphasised. If the previous government had continued its work last year, the law would have been in effect for more than six months, and the beneficiaries would already have enjoyed the rights for which they would not have to pay any new taxes, so their pockets would not be poorer by 620 million euros. The law introduces co-payments for individual services at rates of 10% or 20%.
The law also changes the concept of implementation, as it designates social work centres as the so-called entry point, which means additional employment, additional bureaucratisation, and additional costs. Compared to the current law, the new law also reduces the range of providers of long-term care services. The minister says that care recipients in nursing homes will only pay for the hotel part of the services, but this is nothing new because the current law already stipulates that. However, what is new according to your law is that they will also pay an additional 10 percent of the value of the service as their own contribution and one or two percent of income tax, which the current law does not provide for. The new law further extends the implementation of rights from long-term care, which were legislated two years ago, and additionally affects people’s pockets, as the new tax will collect 620 million euros annually, of which 70 million euros per year will come from the pockets of retirees and their pensions.
Two years ago, the government led by SDS (Slovenian Democratic Party) or Janša, within the framework of the Recovery and Resilience Facility Plan, determined the regulation of long-term care as one of the conditions for accessing 1.5 billion euros of non-repayable European funds. The European Commission approved the plan on July 1st, 2021, and the law on long-term care was adopted by the National Assembly in December 2021 during the mandate of the previous government, after more than 20 years of unsuccessful attempts and more than 100 versions of the law. The law on long-term care was supposed to start being implemented on January 1st of this year, that is, over six months ago. And it would have started being implemented, and the beneficiaries would have been entitled to the rights enshrined in this law already this year if the SDS had led the government.
Representative employers’ organisations regarding the Long-Term Care Act: We will oppose additional financial burdens
Employer organisations also responded. In a statement, they wrote that they would oppose the law. We publish their statement in full.
“Representative employers’ organisations, members of ESS, strongly protest against the recent adoption of the Long-Term Care Act in the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia without prior consent from social partners regarding the financing of long-term care. The law represents an additional burden on the Slovenian economy, which is completely unacceptable. It leads to further reduction of its competitiveness and may consequently jeopardise numerous jobs. The representative employers’ organisations will oppose the financial burden on the employers’ side by proposing a veto in the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia.
In the Long-Term Care Act, the adopted burdens for long-term care further burden economic companies, despite the fact that the combined contribution rate of employees and employers is already among the highest in the European Union. Employers’ organisations, members of ESS, have already pointed this out during the consideration of the proposed law at the Economic and Social Council. We emphasise again that we agree with the need for systemic regulation of long-term care, but it must be funded within the existing contribution rates, and not with additional burdens on employers. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, the Chamber of Craft and Small Business of Slovenia, the Chamber of Commerce of Slovenia, the Association of Employers of Slovenia, and the Association of Craft and Entrepreneurship of Slovenia will oppose the provisions regarding the financing of long-term care by proposing a veto in the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia. No later than June 30th, 2025, a compromise solution must be prepared within the negotiating group of the ESS in a special law that will regulate the funding sources for long-term care. If the current practice of violating the rules of social dialogue continues, the representative employers’ organisations will also consider withdrawing from the Economic and Social Council.”
