National Health Protection Fund to cut down on red tape

As of 2003, 17 health funds are to be replaced by the National Health Protection Fund comprising 16 local branches, the government decided Tuesday. The aim of the reform is to reduce red tape and cut spending on salaries for health fund employees, which now amounts to zl. 360 million a year. Health Minister Mariusz Lapinski said the government did not make any decisions on health insurance contributions at the Tuesday session, but allegedly he does not plan to raise them. According to the current law contributions are to increase annually by 0.25 percentage points. Lapinski pledged cooperation with the medical community while working on solutions to health sector problems, but he has yet to win the support of the Finance Ministry, which has expressed the most reservations about the plan. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 2; Zycie, p. 3; Rzeczpospolita, p. A3) K.S.