Stachura: Coalition Behind Arrears with Health Care Providers Act

Bratislava, November 19 (TASR) - MP Peter Stachura (KDH) criticised the fact that the House Health Committee hasn't yet discussed an amendment to the Health Care Providers Act, calling it a "legislation of the year", geared towards bringing about at least some partial systemic changes to the beleaguered health sector. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Stachura pointed out that the bill is slated to be discussed as late as next week. He believes that the coalition didn't draft it in proper quality in the first place and thus needs more time to make revisions. KDH proposes several amendments, as the party, for instance, disagrees with having outpatient anesthesiology departments established outside hospitals. It also wishes to do away with the provision of the so-called chronic illnesses management by insurers, as KDH believes it's written "chaotically". In addition, Stachura warned that if the bill is passed, psychologists and speech therapists will see cuts in their salaries. Stachura expects a demand to hike the health sector budget by €300 million to arise in the next year as well. "We assume that almost €300 million will likely be lacking at the end of next year and this could become a debt in need of some fixing," he said, warning that the higher VAT tax, higher inflation, higher salary costs and aging of the population will also take some value out of the hike. mf/mcs