The Czech public General Health Insurance Company (VZP) expects the costs of care of Ukrainian refugees with their number put at 350,000 to be some 6.9 billion crowns, while revenues from their insurance paid by the state or employers will be 2.4 billion lower, VZP board told reporters.
So far, VZP has registered almost 333,000 insured from Ukraine, 57 percent of whom are in productive age and one-fifth have already been working. Further 38,000 Ukrainians have registered with smaller health insurers.
However, VZP director Zdenek Kabatek points out that the real health care costs are likely to be lower. “In my opinion, the figure corresponds to the maximum estimate,” he added.
The insurance company counts with the maximum number of 350,000 Ukrainian refugees insured in Czechia, each of whom will need health care worth roughly 26,400 crowns, about 60 percent of the Czech clients’ average.
Besides, even seriously ill refugees have arrived in the Czech Republic, such as cancer patients. The health care reported for March is dozens of millions of crowns higher than the monthly costs before the refugee crisis, Kabatek said.
“We suppose that a great many of the refugees will start working or will be leaving the country (Czechia), so the costs are rather to drop,” he noted.
The VZP data show that almost 35,000 Ukrainians are either employed or run business in the Czech Republic, which makes up 18 percent of those in productive age.
A total of 190,000 of the Ukrainians newly insured with the VZP are in productive age. There are 125,000 children, 152,000 adult women and 57.000 adult men.
At present, the state covers health insurance for those who do not work for one year. The state pays 1,979 crowns monthly for them, the same sum as for Czech children, students, pensioners and the unemployed, which will drop to 1,597 crowns as of July. VZP expects the revenues from the health insurance paid by the state and employers to amount to 4.5 – 4.7 billion crowns with the number of refugees estimated at 350,000.
Source: VZP and CTK
