Health care in Poland
Health care in Poland is insurance based, delivered through a publicly funded health care system called the
Financing and health expenses
The main financing source is health insurance in the National Health Fund. Citizens are obligated to pay insurance fees (redistributed tax) which is 9% deducted from personal income (7,75% is deducted from the tax, 1,25% covered by insured goes directly to the National Health Fund). The national budget covers around 5% of all health care expenses. Since 2007 emergency rescue services are financed in total from the national budget. About 70% of health expenses in Poland are covered by the National Health Fund, with the remaining 30% coming from private health insurance.[3]
Structure
The management of the public health system is divided between the Minister of Health and three levels of territorial self-government. It has been suggested that this delays response to problems.[4]
The structure of the health system in Poland is regulated by these laws:[5][6][7]
Legislation | Act no |
---|---|
The Act on Medical Activity (pol. Ustawa o działalności leczniczej) | Dz.U. z 2018 r. poz. 160 |
The Act on Public Funding of Health Care Services (pol.Ustawa o świadczeniach opieki zdrowotnej finansowanych ze środków publicznych) | Dz.U. z 2018 r. poz. 1510 |
The Act on Patients Rights and Patients Ombudsman (pol. Ustawa o prawach pacjenta i Rzeczniku Praw Pacjenta) | Dz.U. z 2017 r. poz. 1318 |
The
Health service providers
- Health care units functioning as economic operators
- Self-sufficient public health care units: research institutes, foundations, associations, and churches.
- Private health care: medical, nursing, birth attendant, dentistry
- Drug stores
Primary care
The basis of the healthcare system is the
Control and supervising institutions
- National Sanitary Inspection (pol. sanepid)
- National Pharmacological Inspection
- Patients Ombudsman
- Voivodeship centers of public health
- Ministry of Health responsible for creating and executing national health programs, control and supervision on general health situation
Access to health services
According to The Act 240 dated 27.08.2004 about Health Care Public Funding, access to health care services can be provided if patient is able to confirm having health insurance by presenting a document such as an Insurance card, an Insurance card for employee family members or a Pensionary card [9]
Referral is required to get access to:
- hospital treatment
- recovery treatment
- rehabilitation
- chronic disease care
Referral is not required for patients:
- suffering from tuberculosis
- infected with HIV
- combatants, war invalids, and repression victims
- blind civilians if they are victims of war
- privileged soldiers, veterans in case of treatment of injuries and infections during fulfilling duties outside country borders
- drugs and alcohol addicted
- taking medical examination for organ donation
Emergency medical services
Emergency Medical Services (Polish: Ratownictwo Medyczne, RM) in Poland are a service of public, pre-hospital emergency healthcare, including ambulance service, provided by the individual Polish cities and counties. Services are typically provided by the local, publicly operated hospital, and are generally funded by the government of Poland. In a number of cases, hospitals contract the services to private operators. In addition to publicly funded services, there are a variety of private-for-profit ambulance services operating independently.
Problems
The health care system in Poland has had problems for many years. According to the
- difficult access to specialist physician (especially to hospital treatment) and a long time of waiting for health services: planned serious surgery more than 90 days, cancer treatment more than 21 days, tomography more than 7 days
- bad results in cancer treatment: no access to modern medicines and high level of mortality
- digital structure of health information: difficulties with electronic prescriptions and referrals, no access to examination results or list of authorized physicians
See also
References
- ^ "PolishConstitution". Polish Parliament. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
- ^ https://www.cbos.pl/SPISKOM.POL/2016/K_112_16.PDF [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Kampania 17 Celów - Cele Zrównoważonego Rozwoju w biznesie" (PDF). 18 August 2020.
- ^ "Poland HiT (2019)". European Observatory. 2019. Archived from the original on November 23, 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ^ "Obwieszczenie Marszałka Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 8 grudnia 2017 r. W sprawie ogłoszenia jednolitego tekstu ustawy o działalności leczniczej".
- ^ "Obwieszczenie Marszałka Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 20 lipca 2018 r. W sprawie ogłoszenia jednolitego tekstu ustawy o świadczeniach opieki zdrowotnej finansowanych ze środków publicznych".
- ^ "Obwieszczenie Marszałka Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 8 czerwca 2017 r. W sprawie ogłoszenia jednolitego tekstu ustawy o prawach pacjenta i Rzeczniku Praw Pacjenta".
- ^ "General information concerning access to health care during a temporary stay in Poland". NFZ. 29 January 2015. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
- ^ "EWUŚ - czy mam prawo do świadczeń?".
- ^ "Polska na 32. Miejscu w Europejskim Konsumenckim Indeksie Zdrowia | Obserwator Finansowy: Ekonomia, debata, Polska, świat". 6 March 2019.