Health Systems in Transition - Hungary - World Health Organization ...

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Health systems in transition Hungary
Until 2007 the main rationale for using and increasing the level of OOP
payments was not so much to increase allocative efficiency in the provision
of health care as it was to raise additional revenue for the HIF. In February
2007, the allocative efficiency argument came to fore with the introduction of
a flat user charge per outpatient visit and a per diem payment for inpatient care
(2006/9). Revenue from these OOP payments amounted to HUF 13.3 billion
(around €52.5 million) in 2007, which was the equivalent of about 0.7% of total
health expenditure that year (see also section 3.4).
These new measures quickly became a hot button issue, proving to be
extremely unpopular even among the government’s traditional supporters.
The situation was capitalized on by the opposition parties, which organized a
national referendum both on this topic and that of tuition fees in state-funded
higher education. The outcome of the referendum, which led to the repeal of
both measures, is described in more detail in section 6.1.1.
6.2 Future developments
The government in power since April 2010 published its programme entitled
The programme of national cooperation in May 2010. The programme describes
a range of planned policy interventions, including:
• linking capacity planning with health needs assessment to reduce
geographical and human resource inequities;
• ceasing the privatization of hospitals;
• decreasing pharmaceutical co-payments and expenditure, facilitated
in part through long-term agreements between the government and the
pharmaceutical companies;
• increasing overall public spending on health care as a share of GDP;
• refining incentives to increase generic competition;
• restoring the personal ownership of pharmacies;
• maintaining a single health insurance scheme;
• establishing a clearer career path model for health professionals;
• improving the quality assurance system by strengthening the mandate
of the NPHMOS in this area. (Government of the Republic of Hungary,
2010).