Health Minister Andrej Brucan has quoted data which refute allegations of haphazard privatisation of the national health care system. "During my term, when I'm being reproached for privatising health care, private enterprise in the health sector has gone up from 25% to 29%," Brucan told Saturday.
What is more, even that is largely the result of licences awarded by local authorities, the minister added in the interview for the Maribor-based daily.
"However, the health sector is not being privatised in Slovenia. This is neither desirable or possible as we are all insured and are all getting services that are paid virtually one-hundred per cent, considering obligatory and additional insurance schemes." According to Brucan, health services will continue to be available to all citizens under equal terms in the future. The licencing of private practitioners is part of the public system and does not encroach on the rights of those enrolled in health insurance schemes, the minister said.
Brucan, who is facing a second motion to oust him this term in parliament in the autumn, said that services by licenced practitioners were paid from the public purse just like those of public institutes. He also rejected the opposition's claim that licencing was leading to growing social differences and jeopardised welfare state.
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