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

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Health systems in transition Hungary
NHIFA (see section 2.3.7). This does not mean, however, that the central
government does not play an important role in directly financing the health
sector. Indeed, it is responsible for:
• financing high-cost, high-tech interventions, public health, prevention of
communicable diseases, emergency ambulance and blood supply services,
health sciences education and research (1997/20, 1998/4);
• partially covering capital expenditure by providing country and municipal
governments with conditional and matching grants for renovating health
care facilities, for replacing equipment and for new investment via the
so-called earmarked and target subsidies (1992/9);
• transferring revenue from the hypothecated health care tax to the HIF to
compensate for non-contributing groups (1997/8, 1998/19);
• paying the HIF contribution for certain non-contributing social groups
(2005/5);
• covering the HIF deficit (upon approval of the National Assembly) (1992/6,
1997/8);
• covering co-payments for certain pharmaceuticals, medical aids and
prostheses for residents with low incomes (as determined by means
testing) (1993/1);
• giving tax rebates on the purchase of voluntary, non-profit health
insurance and savings accounts (1995/14).
Although counties and municipalities have provided the majority of health
services since 1990, the national government is involved in service delivery in
several ways by:
• directly providing public health services through the NPHMOS,
emergency services through the National Emergency Ambulance Service,
and blood products through the National Blood Supply Service;
• supplying mainly tertiary health care through medical universities and the
National Institutes of Health;
• providing undergraduate and postgraduate health sciences education, and
some continuing education and research at the various academic medical
centres and at the Institute for Basic and Continuing Education of Health
Professionals, which is run by the State Secretariat for Healthcare.