Issues surrounding health care – which recently led to the collapse of Hungary’s Socialist-Liberal coalition – have again taken center stage in Hungarian politics, with the government forced into a humiliating policy retreat just as it prepares to name a new health minister.
According to daily Népszabadság, the government will allocate Ft 10 billion (roughly €39.5 million) for general practitioners, pediatricians and dentists to compensate for the “visit fees” abolished after the March 9 referendum. The change was announced on Thursday after a meeting of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány and National Health Fund (OEP) head Tamás Székely, who is tipped to take over the country’s health ministry (see below).
Earlier, the health ministry had insisted it would not compensate doctors for the lost fees, because it was not part of the budget.
According to doctors’ portal Weborvos.hu, Gyurcsány called on Székely last week to start negotiations with doctors’ unions about financing of the “home doctor” (háziorvosi) system. Székely yesterday informed Gyurcsány about results of these negotiations and the content of a possible agreement. The Office of the Prime Minister said that Gyurcsány told Székely he could sign the agreement with the unions.
At a press conference yesterday, Hungarian Chamber of Doctors (MOK) President István Éger said that the agreement with the government on the visit fee compensation can be signed next Tuesday. He added that he sees a “complete change” in the view of the health ministry, and it is no longer a question that the visit fee has to and will be compensated for.
When asked whether the change was due to the fact that Health Minister Ágnes Horváth will be replaced next month, Éger said: “The question is not really about the person of the minister but about the government’s and the Parliament’s attitude towards health care and its problems. I feel that a change has happened there.”
The Socialist Party (MSZP) welcomed the news that achieving an agreement on the financing of doctors seems close, MP and former Health Minister Mihály Kökény said.
Székely Tipped for Health Ministry
In related news, inforadio.hu reports that Gyurcsány will name a new health minister on Sunday, citing information from government sources.
The most likely successor to Ágnes Horváth – whose firing by Gyurcsány set off the departure of the Liberals (SZDSZ) from the cabinet – is said to be OEP head Székely. The portal writes that Székely enjoys support from both the governing Socialist Party (MSZP) and main opposition party Fidesz, but not the MSZP’s former coalition partner.
Former minister Kökény is also said to be favored by members of the MSZP, but he claims he does not want to return to the ministry.
Meanwhile, Gyurcsány has reportedly spoken with other possible candidates, most of whom are relative unknowns.
The “Visit Fee” was one of the dumbest ideas even from this government. It’s like forcing a person with a bus pass to also buy a ticket from the driver every time he wants to get on the bus.
People who voted against the visit fee didn’t “take money away from doctors” as Gyurcsany likes to put it, they simply stopped the nonsense.
The way health insurance works (or should work) is that you pay more and use less when you’re young and healthy, and pay less, use more when you’re old and sick. The visit fee did the opposite, so it was a bad idea from the start.
Most of the money collected went to pay for the extra bureaucracy requried to collect the fees, the rest paid for the hospital safes, another dumb idea from Miss Piggy.
Stan:
This is a good metaphor – about paying twice to ride the bus – and *yes* most of the money collected probably was consumed administering it.
But there is a reason this was not a 100% bad idea, namely that it discouraged some of those who see going to the doctor as a sport. Do not forget that Hungarians on average go to the doctor something like twice as often as people in some other European countries where health “outcomes” are better. Without notes on a Saturday morning at 7:15 am I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but 12 or 14 times per year is what I seem to recall.
These people are “gumming up” the system, adding pointless extra costs, and probably bringing down the level of care available to paitients who really do need attention. So doing a little something to discourage them from “doctor office tourism” is not a bad thing, and the visit fee actually cut this number significantly.
What really gets me, however, is how people winge about a piddling Ft 300 (or whatever) fee, and there isn’t a *revolt* over the fact that you have to pay upwards of Ft 80,000 or Ft 100,000 in halapenz (bribes) if you want to have a baby, and you aren’t well connected. That’s the scandal, not a little user fee. And the fact that no one here sees it makes me wonder if the system is even savable.
Making everyone pay extra is not the best way to screen out people who enjoy going to the doctor too much. Doctors should do it, they know who’s visiting them for a reason. Going to the doctor in Hungary is not as much fun as you may think, it’s usually hours of waiting, and all for a simple prescription renewal or a reference to another doctor.
Here’s an example:
In the US you run out of your medication, you call your doctor, he calls the pharmacy and you pick up your meds. Done.
The same prescription in Hungary goes like this:
Visit your local doctor. He cannot prescribe the meds without approval from a specialist, so he will send you to one. You go to 3 different places, and still cannot find a specialist, as they keep closing down services everywhere. Finally you find someone who’s not really the specialist you need, but authorized to authorize your meds. Back to the local doc’s office, get your prescription. So if the system is set upn so badly that you must make 3 visits just to get the meds you’ve been taking for many years and need to survive, then it’s not the patience’s fault, it’s the idiots who run the system. In this case there’s no need for more money, people should get their meds without the hassle, as it’s done in the US. Why make the patient pay 3 visit fees for something he’s forced to go through. Not to mention of all the bus fares and time wasted waiting and waiting and waiting.
“Visit-fees” was not an Hungarian construction. It exists in many other European countries, without the “Hungarian problems”.
“Visit fees” are good, but they need to be combined with a change in the system, so I do not need to go to my GP and Specialist to get renewals on my normal prescription every month, as today. In Sweden, where people are more healthier and they pay a 10-times bigger “visit-fee”, I can get a prescription valid for 1 year of pills. It is then the pharmacy’s task to check that I only take out 3-months of worth every time, which must be 3 months apart. With this, I can take down my visits from 13 times/year to 2-3 times per year.
This would of course make the doctors unhappy, as it would lead to changes in their income eventually, so hence there is no political will to do this, when in reality Fidesz is controlling this issue in Hungary and they are set to let it go down totally. When they are in power, they may be forced to fix it, though. Like all the other things they will lie about before the next election.
The visit fee is ridiculous to say the least. It cannot be justified under any circumstances. We pay of Social Insurance, we pay the doctors tax-free money, and then we are supposed to pay a fee when we visit the doctor on top!
Makes not difference if it is applied in other countries, Hungary is the only one that matters to Hungarian people. Maybe if they were taking home the same level of salaries as those other countries it would be a little easier to swallow.
The health service is in a mess, that mess has been caused by nobody else but the socialists (Gyurcsany and his Commies)
I am not saying that health reforms are not a necessity, but charging the already over burdened Hungarian people a fee (however small) for what they have already paid for is criminal.
I have many Doctor friends and each and every one of them felt they were far better off during the Fidesz reign of power.