By: Vida Kocjan
Golob’s government has started an attack on the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (ZZZS), the board of the institute is filled with members of the parties Gibanje Svoboda and SD, changes in the board of the ZZZS institute were made just before today’s extraordinary session of the assembly.
At a correspondence meeting, the government dismissed and appointed new members, representatives of employers for the field of state administration and non-economic public services, to the ZZZS assembly. In the ZZZS assembly, the following were dismissed as representatives of employers for the field of state administration and non-economic public services: Helena Ulčar Šumčić, Irena Drmaž, and Oskar Salecl. Peter Štemberger and Miranda Groff Ferjančič were appointed for the remainder of the mandate, until October 25th, 2025.
Miranda Groff Ferjančič is a member of the SD party and their municipal councillor in the municipality of Idrija. In the past, she presented herself as an “independent candidate”, then in 2018 she ran for mayor of Idrija with the support of the SD party and tycoon Stojan Petrič. She failed. Even before that, she ran on the lists of the failed LDS and Zares.
It is not clear which of the Peter Štembergers was appointed to the council of the ZZZS institute. Online data shows that Peter Štemberger is employed by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, while the other is a municipal councillor of the Gibanje Svoboda party in Šentjernej municipality and the owner of one of the local companies dealing with sewage treatment plants.
The government replaced the members of the institute just before today’s general assembly of ZZZS, where the announced health reform will be discussed at an extraordinary meeting. The general director of ZZZS, Tatjana Mlakar, may also be a target of the new government, who warns that the reform should not focus on just one stakeholder in the health system. ZZZS also expects the reform to clearly define that we need to strengthen the social model of health insurance in Slovenia. The reform must introduce structural changes in the field of management and organisation in healthcare, improve the management of the healthcare system at the national level, implement measures for the long-term sustainability of the healthcare system and improve public financial resources for healthcare.