Health has now become the hottest political topic, and the calendar includes further meetings and summits devoted to the crisis in the system. The government announced a meeting with the participation of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health and the heads of the National Health Fund, President Karol Nawrocki is organizing his own Medical Summit on December 5, and the day before, the government is to hold a conference on the situation in health care.
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According to “Rzeczpospolita”, PiS is planning its own event on December 13, presented as a settlement of two years of Donald Tusk's rule in the field of health. Political tension was also raised by reports of proposed savings in the health care system. The left has been emphasizing for many weeks that it opposes any financial cuts.
Prof. Ewa Marciniak from CBOS, quoted by the daily, points out that health care has for years been one of the most criticized areas of public policy and a constant “whipping boy”.
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Social expectations are confirmed by the latest CBOS survey: as much as 93 percent Poles want the government to focus on improving access to medical services, and 91 percent indicates safety as a key priority. At the end of the list are the settlements of the previous government and changes in the abortion law. The Left's reform is therefore surrounded by both great political tension and growing social expectations towards an improvement in the health care situation.
Research shows that the percentage of people who notice an improvement in doctors' competences is increasing, but only 22 percent respondents believe that health care is free, although in 2012 more than half of the respondents had such a belief. More and more often, patients actually bear the costs of treatment, a part of society already accepts the idea of a small co-payment.
The left wants to change the way health care is financed. That's his idea
As the spokesman for the New Left, Łukasz Michnik, explains in an interview with “Rzeczpospolita”, the solution proposed by the Left is to replace the current contribution with a health tax.
This change is to cover both PIT and CIT payerswhich – as the authors of the project emphasize – it will simplify the tax system and bring the largest reduction in health burdens for employees and entrepreneurs in years. Michnik also points out that this reform is to include changes to many acts.
As he adds, according to the New Left Such changes are expected to allow Poland to reach the OECD average in terms of health care spending within a few years. According to the spokesman of the New Left, work on the project took many months, and its scale requires the amendment of hundreds of acts.
