Hungarian opposition Jobbik urges health-care finance reform

Opposition Jobbik has called for the reform Hungary’s health-care financing system with the aim of speeding up access to better quality services.

Jobbik calls for reforms

László György Lukács, the party’s deputy group leader, told a press conference on Monday that under the current system waiting times for treatments were too long, forcing many patients to pay out of their own pocket for private treatments that they were otherwise entitled to in the state-run system.

Jobbik proposes introducing a personal social insurance account so that people can decide for themselves whether to use a private health-care provider in cases where treatments are unavailable or would take longer than average to access using a state provider, he said.

The social insurance sum in question would cover the cost of an equivalent treatment provided as part of the state health-care system, he said.

Jobbik is launching a debate among professionals and politicians on “making the social insurance contribution transferrable”.

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