By: Gal Kovač (Nova24tv.si)
Prime Minister Robert Golob announced the abolition of supplementary health insurance at a press conference. Due to the announced increase in the prices of insurance companies, this will be merged into compulsory health insurance. According to the submitted proposal, the employer would be the payer of the mandatory health insurance, while for pensioners the Institute for Pension and Disability Insurance would be the recipient of the funds, instead of the three private insurance companies. They collected 600 million euros annually with supplementary insurance. According to the president of the parliamentary committee on healthcare, the law, if adopted, will be enforced on September 1st of this year.
In addition to the Prime Minister, Minister of Health Bešič Loredan, Minister of Finance Klemen Boštjančič, leader of the Svoboda parliamentary group Borut Sajovic and President of the Committee on Health Tamara Kozlovič took part in the press conference. Let us remind you that disagreements regarding the method of abolishing supplementary health insurance were the reason for the collapse of the government of Marjan Šarec. In this case, the presented proposal should enjoy the support of both the SD and the Levica parties. After the initial announcements that the SD and the Levica would not participate in the press conference, there were changes. Meira Hot spoke on behalf of the SD, and Luka Mesec on behalf of the Levica. In his opening remarks, the Prime Minister said that the law was introduced by a parliamentary group, but that it also has the support of the government and key ministries. The aforementioned measure would be followed by a transformation of the entire health fund.
STA reported that the mandatory health contribution, which would replace the supplementary health insurance, would amount to 35 euros, whereby adjustments of the contribution could be introduced once a year based on the growth of the average gross salary.
It was originally intended that the supplementary health insurance would only be abolished at the beginning of 2025, but that the recent increase in the price of the Generali insurance company and the very likely increase in the price of the other insurance companies was the reason for considering the acceleration of the measure. According to media reports, rumours that the leader of the pensioner protests, Pavel Rupar, intends to file a competitive solution, are said to be the biggest motivation of the freelancers. The latter has already commented on the announced government measure online. He said the government would never have moved if it had not been forced by pensioners. “Well done pensioners, well done “Voice of Pensioners”, congratulations “Institute October 1st”!! When you shoo a flock of pigeons, they start flying!!,” he wrote on Facebook. He added to this that “without you, dear pensioners, there would not have been even this action of theirs without the fear of us!!!”. That this is indeed the case is evidenced by N1’s reporting on the content of the discussions at the meeting of the Gibanje Svoboda parliamentary group, where those present are said to have agreed “that the rulers will work harder in the future and communicate more and better about the planned reforms or projects”.
He also addressed accusations that SDS was behind his bill, which he vehemently denied. “We wrote the law that we will submit to the procedure today ourselves with our colleagues!” Robert Golob’s nightmares and severe traumas before the SDS have become a schizophrenic haunting, so let me reassure him that the SDS party did not participate in this.
Rupar: If the law is not adopted in three months…
Even before the press conference, the leader of the pensioners’ protests congratulated everyone who prepared the government for work with the rallies, but as he warns, it is a delaying manoeuvre by the government. “Their purpose is only one!! Nothing will happen in a year, it is a matter of procrastination,” he wrote. It appears from his note that they will be watching in great detail what the government does in the coming weeks. “If they do not pass the law within three months, we will throw them out of the government and parliament,” he wrote harshly.
The leader of the SDS parliamentary group has already responded to the press conference, saying that at least two lies were told at the press conference. “At Golob’s press conference, two lies in two sentences, no more price increases, no more private profits at the expense of health insurance. The annual adjustment is an increase in price, and we would not explain any more about the profits of private individuals.”