22.04.2008 - Czechs pay over one billion crowns in regulatory health fees
He said the fees had helped decrease the number of unnecessary visits to doctors and doctors had more time to attend to their patients.
Health insurance companies' spending on cheap medicines has dropped since people pay cash for them.
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"The regulatory fees introduced in the Czech Republic have proved efficient," Julinek said.
He said he did not consider it wise to carry out the revision of the system now as the junior government Christian Democrats and Greens are proposing.
The opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) and the Communists (KSCM) have sharply criticised the introduction of the fees in the insurance-based Czech health care and would like them to be abolished.
"The start of a dialogue between doctors and patients in a medical facility is the largest contribution of the fees and it is not a small step," Julinek said.
His deputy Pavel Horobon said out-patient facility doctors had collected 420 million crowns in the fees, hospitals 126 million and emergency services 30 million crowns.
Health insurance companies received 40 percent prescriptions fewer for re-funding compared to the first quarter of last year and 456 million crowns have been collected in the fees per item on a prescription.
Savings in health insurance companies spending on out-patient specialists' services reached 144 million crowns in the first half of this year, Hrobon said, adding that 1.75 billion crowns had been saved for medicines.
This will allow health insurance companies to cover the costs of expensive medicines for more patients in specialised centres.
"The fees have increased the quality of health care because we have more time for patients," Czech General Practitioners' Association head Jan Jelinek said.
Health Ministry spokesman Tomas Cikrt added that the figures confirmed the ministry's preliminary estimates that the fees would bring 4 to 5 billion crowns a year and an approximately the same amount of money would be saved through the reduction of unnecessary health care.
Under the government public finance reform that took effect as of the beginning of this year, Czechs pay 30 crowns per visit to a doctor and per item on a prescription, 60 crowns per day in hospital and 90 crowns for after hours treatment.
Health insurance companies will return to people what they will pay in excess of the 5000-crown annual limit for the fees.
($1=15.782 Czech crowns)
(Ceske Noviny)
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