The Ft 440 million spent on founding the 22 health insurance funds to be formed under the now abandoned reform plan will be funnelled back to the budget following the closure of the funds, Health Minister Tamás Székely told Parliament yesterday. He added that the government will carry out wide-ranging consultations regarding improvements to the health insurance system.
Parliament voted by 317-17 yesterday to put the bill on revoking the multi-player health insurance bill on the agenda in a fast-track procedure.
Székely spoke in response to Fidesz MP István Mikola, who urged Socialist MPs to apologise and do some soul-searching for having passed the multi-player health insurance bill last December and again in February, as now they will repeal it. He said the government had spent hundreds of millions of forints unnecessarily on promotion, and accused the cabinet of establishing the 22 health funds “secretly” and of “appointing their friends to well-paying jobs.”
