“Freezing” pay rises for six months? The Ministry of Health reveals its cards regarding wages

During Tuesday's meeting of the tripartite team on health care, no agreement was reached on pay reform. Deputy Minister of Health Katarzyna Kęcka announced a ministerial project shifting the indexation of minimum wages from July to January.

The Tripartite Team for Health Protection discussed remuneration in health care, including: on the indexation of the minimum wage and contract agreements. Another topic is the financial problems of the National Health Fund and the savings proposal that the Ministry of Health submitted to the Ministry of Finance in October. On the government side, Deputy Minister Kęcka and Deputy Minister of Finance Hanna Majszczyk participated in the meeting.

The Deputy Minister of Health, as well as representatives of trade unions and employers informed that no agreement was reached during the meeting.

We failed to reach a consensus when it comes to the minimum wage act, said Kęcka.

She informed that the Ministry of Health will present a project in January that assumes the postponement of the indexation of minimum wages in health care.

Currently, the increases take effect in July. The Ministry of Health proposes that wages will increase from January, starting from 2027. This would mean “freezing” the increases for half a year. Kęcka emphasized that the Ministry of Health's project will also assume linking indexation with the wage growth rate in the state budget.

She emphasized that the changes proposed in the project will enable the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tarification (AOTMiT) to collect data on civil law agreements, i.e. contracts. She emphasized that a real discussion about contracts will only be possible when such data is collected.

She informed that the proposal presented at the tripartite team regarding the introduction of maximum remuneration in health care came from the Association of Polish Counties.

Co-chairman of the team, Wojciech Wiśniewski from the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs, stated that both entrepreneurs and the trade unions do not accept the situation when proposals sent by the Ministry of Health are “attributed to either trade unions or employers' organizations.” He added that the Ministry of Health has undertaken to provide its position on the raise bill and contractual remuneration in writing.

The government side has no, I emphasize, no proposal, he said.

Maria Ochman, the chairwoman of the National Secretariat for Health Protection of NSZZ “Solidarność”, said that the government had not presented any proposal regarding the lowest salary and contracts.

The social side and the trade union side asked for specific proposals, she added.

The Chairwoman of the National Trade Union of Nurses and Midwives said that she expects the Ministry of Health not only to plan savings, but also to increase revenues. She emphasized that there is a whole list of people entitled to exemption from paying health insurance contributions, which should be considered.

A meeting of the presidium of the Tripartite Team for Health Protection is scheduled for January 7, 2026.

In the letter of October 29, disclosed on Monday, the Ministry of Health presented changes that would bring nearly PLN 10.4 billion in savings in 2026. According to this proposal, shifting the indexation of minimum wages from July to January, starting from January 1, 2027, would bring approximately PLN 6 billion in savings in 2026.

Moreover, the Ministry of Health proposed linking indexation with the wage growth rate in the state budget. This is an indicator with a lower growth rate than the one currently in force when calculating the increase in minimum wages, i.e. the percentage of the increase in the average gross salary in the national economy. Taking both changes into account, the cost of the increases, according to the Ministry of Health, would drop from approximately PLN 10 billion to approximately PLN 2.7 billion in 2027.

The proposals addressed to the Ministry of Finance also include, among others: limits in specialist clinics and corrections in the lists of free medicines for children and seniors. As a result, the gap in the National Health Fund in 2026 would decrease from approximately PLN 23 billion to nearly PLN 12.9 billion. (PAP)

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