Health Ministry: We're Auditing Existing System of Fees in Health Care

Bratislava, April 25 (TASR) - The Health Ministry intends to introduce transparency to the current system of fees that patients pay for specific-time appointments with doctors, with an eye towards protecting the lowest income-earners among patients, TASR learnt on Thursday. The Health Ministry responded this way to a call from the Christian Democrats (KDH), who had urged it earlier in the day to lend support to their motion aiming to do away with non-transparent billing of patients via third parties. The Health Ministry wants to protect low income earners, "so that these patients won't postpone their visit to a doctor out of fear that they might not afford it". Its press department added that the ministry is busy with an audit of fees and pointed out that if patients harbour a suspicion they're being asked to pay an illicit fee, they can always turn to a relevant local authority to have the fee investigated. KDH wants to make sure that costs related to the health care management cannot be foisted upon patients, pointing out that even though the current legislation bans doctors from charging fees for giving specific-time appointments to patients, in practice the ban is often circumvented by having third parties charge the patients. "We're a great nation, always capable of devising various ways to get round. Hence, a system emerged in which if the provider of health care - a specific doctor or outpatient department - delegates [the making of appointments] to a non-provider of health care, the law no longer applies," said MP Peter Stachura (KDH). The upshot is that patients often have to pay fees to privately-owned internet websites to get their specific-time appointments. "There's no other country in Europe where you would have to pay to get an appointment with a doctor, if you already have a contract with a health insurer," added Stachura. mf/mcs