Private health care to become tax deductible

Patients who would use private health care services could benefit from special tax allowances. "We want to relieve the public health care service and encourage people to use private offers," declared Deputy Prime Minister Przemysław Gosiewski. He revealed that the new regulations are to enter into force from January 2008, but no decision has been made yet concerning the amount of the planned tax deductible allowance. He added that cash registers will enable the government to get to know the real incomes of doctors. Experts agree that the introduction of cash registers for doctors is a good idea, but are concerned about the planned tax allowances. "It means that the money which is not there will be given away," stated Andrzej Wiernik from the Academy of Finance. It is estimated that this year the public will spend zł.325 million on private health care services, but the figure is expected to exceed zł.2.5 billion by 2009. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, B2) E.B.