Health Minister threatens to quit over controversial health fund reforms

Health Minister Mariusz Lapinski warned he would resign unless the Interior and Defense Ministers withdraw from the idea of maintaining a separate Health Fund for police officers, the armed forces and civil servants. The cancellation of the 16 regional Health Funds and one branch fund for the police and army officers and the creation of centralized funding for medical services was one of the most important aspects of Lapinski's strategy. A meeting with the Prime Minister aimed at finding a compromise, scheduled for yesterday evening, failed to take place and no future date for such an attempt has been set. "There won't be any compromise. Miller will have to back either Lapinski or [Interior Minister] Janik," said a source close to the Health Minister. Among Lapinski's potential successors, the most commonly mentioned is Andrzej Kosiniak-Kamysz from the Polish Peasants Party (PSL), Health Minister in Tadeusz Mazowiecki's cabinet. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1, A3) M.K.