Manko in health insurance premiums? The National Health Fund reports revenues lower by PLN 3.5 billion

The impact of the health insurance premium for the first eight months of this year is approximately PLN 3.5 billion lower than the forecast in the National Health Fund's financial plan for 2025, according to information from the National Health Fund provided to PAP.

“The forecast impact of the contribution for eight months of this year, included as 8/12 equal parts of the NFZ financial plan for 2025, is PLN 115.45 billion. However, the real impact of the contribution in this period is nearly PLN 112 billion. The difference: approximately PLN 3.5 billion,” Paweł Florek, director of the Office of Social Communication and Promotion of the National Health Fund, told PAP.

He noted that contribution receipts are, as a rule, not equal in each month. “They are characterized by seasonality, which is why premium revenues in the second half of the year are higher than in the first. This is a constant trend observed over the years,” added Florek.

He emphasized that information on the actual realization of revenues from health insurance contributions for the entire year 2025 will be available after the relevant information is provided by ZUS and KRUS in the second half of February 2026.

Wojciech Wiśniewski from the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs told PAP that PLN 3.5 billion is too large a sum to be balanced by the proceeds from the health insurance premium in the second half of 2025. According to the expert, the macroeconomic data on the basis of which the health insurance premium revenues in 2025 were estimated were too optimistic. He noted that similarly optimistic forecasts were adopted for the financial plan of the National Health Fund in 2026. He emphasized that this means that the subsidy from the state budget for health services will have to be higher than assumed.

The National Health Fund data refer to eight months of 2025, because the contribution for September will be received in October.

The Medycyna Practical portal was the first to report on lower health insurance premium revenues.

The gap in this year's National Health Fund budget will amount to approximately PLN 14 billion. There are no funds to settle overperformance, and contracts in some parts of the country are also at risk – PAP learned in October from a source in the National Health Fund. In November and December, there may be a lack of money for treatment in the Silesian and Masovian voivodeships. In turn, in 2026, according to the estimates of the Ministry of Health, the financial gap will amount to PLN 23 billion.

The draft financial plan of the National Health Fund for 2026 shows that the National Health Fund's revenues will amount to PLN 217.4 billion and will be higher by 9.9%. compared to 2025. According to the plan, revenues from health insurance premiums will amount to PLN 184.3 billion, i.e. they will increase by 6.5%. compared to 2025. The specific subsidy from the state budget is to amount to PLN 26 billion, i.e. increase by 42%. compared to the originally assumed value of the subsidy in the NFZ financial plan for 2025 (PLN 18.3 billion). (PAP)

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