In 2008 Robert Fico’s government cancelled the possibility for health insurers to make profit from their activities, as he claimed they were making profit to the detriment of patients.
This now looks set to change once again because the new health minister Ivan Uhliarik announced that his department would be proposing that insurers be allowed to make profits once again, but in a way that will not harm patients.
He plans to do this by limiting the insurers in various ways, including the application of strict deadlines for operations. Failure by an insurer to meet the deadlines and put off operations until later will mean the cost of the operation will be deducted from their profit.