Radziwiłł: Regular medical insurance will be changed within the next 2 years

Konstanty Radziwiłł, the Minister of Health, declared on Tuesday on TOK FM that the government is planning to drastically increase spending on the national healthcare system as well as reform the system so that it serves all of Poland's citizens, even those who do not pay their premiums. The Minister noted that current national healthcare spending is at 4 percent of the country's GDP, and that in 2017 he wants to start raising that number towards 6 percent. The announced reform plan of the national healthcare system (NFZ) calls for the change so all Polish citizens are covered - currently, 2,5 million Poles don't have insurance. As Radziwiłł puts it, "We are planning to depart from public health insurance" and in its place create a system that does not divide citizens into the insured and uninsured. That way, even those citizens who do not pay their insurance premiums will still have access to medical services. He added that the general outline of the reform is in place, but that the specific details of the plan are still being worked on.