Justiciability of the Right to Health and the Health System in Slovakia
| Author | Barbara Pavlikova |
| Pages | 56-79 |
Justiciability of the Right to Health and the Heath System in Slovakia
Introduction
The Slovak Republic is located in the heart of Europe, with an area of
49 035 km
2
. Until 1993, the Czech Republic and present-day Slovakia
formed one state (Czechoslovakia). In 2008, 2.4 million inhabitants lived in
provincial municipalities, that is, 45 % of the total population of 5.4 million
people. Slovakia has been a member of the United Nations and its agencies
since 1993, a member of the OECD since 2000, and a member of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization () and the EU since 2004. e Slovak
Republic is a parliamentary democracy with separation of legislative, judicial
and executive powers. Its unicameral Parliament consists of 150 members.
ey are elected by proportional representation for a four-year period. e
president is the Head of State and has limited legislative power (Slovakia
Medical Insurance, 2018).
Since 1990, the former centrally planned economy has been transformed
into a market economy. Slovak Republic is located in the central Europe and
neighbors with the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Hungary and Ukraine
(Kapalla – Kapallová - Turecký, 2010).
Health care is an important component of social security. e way health
care issues are dealt with diers in the dierent models of social and private
security (Ondruš, 2014).
1 e national health care system
e health care system in Slovakia can neither be described as Bismarckian
nor Beveridgean nor follows a National Health Insurance model, although
it has certain features of all three. ere is virtually 100 % solidarity imple-
mented within the system — people who earn more pay more, those who
earn less pay less, but all receive the same health care (Kapalla – Kapallová –
Turecký, 2010).
e health care system in Slovakia is based on universal coverage, compulso-
ry health insurance, a basic benet package and a competitive insurance model
with selective contracting and exible pricing. Health care, with exceptions, is
provided to the insured, free at the point of service, as benets-in-kind —paid
for by a third party—. State bodies —the Ministry of Health, — and
Barbara Pavlíková
self-governing regions, which have regional competency mainly in outpatient
care, administer the system and issue permits to health care providers. Organ-
ised interest groups also participate in health policy-making. Although they
are invited to comment on legislative proposals, their recommendations carry
relatively little political weight. Representatives of employees and employers
meet with government representatives at the Tripartite Economic and Social
Council, but their mutual agreement is not needed to continue the legislative
process. Professional associations —known as “chambers”— keep registers of
health professionals and they issue or revoke licences. ey cooperate in mon-
itoring the management of health care facilities and issue opinions on ethical
issues concerning the medical profession. Membership within a chamber is not
compulsory (Szalay et al., 2011).
According to the Act on Health Insurance, the Health Surveillance Authority
() is a liaison body for the provision of health care provided on the basis of
public health insurance in relation to the liaison bodies of other Member States
for communication between the respective health insurance companies and at
the same time performs the activity of the National Contact Point related to
cross-border health care (Babicová, 2017).
Slovakia provides relatively good quality of health care. All large villages
have a health centre and there is at least one hospital and several health cen-
tres in every city. Highly specialised hospitals are also situated for example in
Bratislava, Martin, Banská Bystrica and Košice. Emergency medical services are
operational at all hospitals 24 hours, 7 days a week (Health Care in Slovakia,
2018; Health care in Slovakia, not dened).
To continue reading
Request your trial