According to Miroslav Kalousek (TOP 09), Vice-Chairman of the Insurance Company’s Management Board, the deficit of the General Health Insurance Company (VZP) will probably be about a billion better than planned this year. According to him, the data on VZP’s financial performance for the first two months of the year show that. He expects a balance of CZK 4.6 billion. He told reporters after yesterday’s board meeting. The total expenditure of the public health insurance system is expected to be CZK 471 billion.
According to Kalousek, the insurer collected about two billion more in premiums than it spent on healthcare in the first two months. “We have reason to believe that the overall performance will be slightly better than the approved (health) insurance plan. The deficit should not be 5.5 billion, but from yesterday’s perspective it should be about a billion less. Of course, anything can happen in those 10 months,” he said.
According to the health insurance plan, VZP is counting on revenues of about CZK 275.7 billion and costs of CZK 281.2 billion for this year. At the end of February, revenues were 16.3 percent of the annual plan, and health service costs were 15.3 percent of the annual plan. The current account of the basic health insurance fund was 19.2 billion and the reserve fund was 3.3 billion.
Last year, the insurance company had also estimated a deficit of over five billion crowns; the economy was balanced in the end. More than 330 million was added to its budget by the first and second waves of the Gracious Summer event, in which people were able to settle their debts to the insurance company and were forgiven penalties. “Thanks to this, we received a larger amount than the expected average than if it had been recovered by enforcement,” said the chairman of VZP’s board of directors, MP Tom Philipp (KDU-ČSL). The action was used by 13,500 people and the insurance company forgave a total of over CZK 1.1 billion in penalties.
The server SeznamZprávy reported today that VZP director Zdeněk Kabátek will receive a reward of CZK 1.255 million this year. He will receive an additional CZK 319,000 for recruiting insured Ukrainian refugees. According to Seznam Zprav, the amount is the highest ever proposed by the board to a VZP director. Last year, Kabátek received a remuneration of CZK 1.309 million.
Seven health insurance companies are involved in the public health insurance system, VZP has about 59 percent of the clients. According to Finance Ministry data, they are counting on total revenues of CZK 464.1 billion and expenses of CZK 471.3 billion. The deficit is projected at CZK 7.5 billion. The Union of Health Insurance Companies, which brings together six smaller ones outside VZP, estimated in January that the deficit could be as high as CZK 12 billion and that reserves could be depleted.
Source: CTK
