development report 2012 - UMAR

60 Development Report 2012
Development by the priorities of SDS – A modern welfare state and higher employment
Figure19: Revenue and expenditure of the Pension and
Disability Insurance Institute of the Republic of Slovenia,
2000=100
Growth in %
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2000
2001
PDII revenues
Expenditure
Budget transfers
2002
2003
2004
Source: Bulletin of the Ministry of Finance.
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
quarter of the relevant respondents think that when
they are 60, they would be able to do the same job as
they do currently (Parent-Thirion, A. 2010) 168 .
The payments of first supplementary pensions from
the voluntary supplementary pension scheme began
in 2011. In 2011 169 approximately 537,000 people were
included in the voluntary supplementary pension
scheme, which is slightly less than the 62% of persons
insured under the compulsory pension scheme.
However, only approximately 4% of these people were
included on the basis of individual insurance schemes.
The number gradually increased until 2010 and then
decreased slightly in 2011 170 . This was, in fact, the first year
that supplementary pensions were paid. However, due
to low 171 insurance premiums, which have a tendency to
decrease in value, a low yield on the funds saved and, as
a result, low pension annuities, and owing to continued
uncertainties in financial markets, most insured persons,
instead of opting for a pension annuity, decide for a oneoff
withdrawal of the funds saved despite the income tax
provision which imposed a considerably higher tax on
such withdrawals.
Box 7: Factors of public health care expenditure growth in the EU and Slovenia
The impact of non-demographic drivers on the growth of public health care expenditure in Slovenia is on average
considerably smaller than in the EU. According to the econometric study produced by the European Commission
(Alternative Scenarios for Assessing the Impact of Non-Demographic Factors on Health Care Expenditure, 2011),
population ageing (change in the demographic structure) in the EU Member States contributed in the period 1960–2009
to the growth of the public health care expenditure on average only 10%, the increase in GDP per capita slightly more
than 60%, while the remaining solid 25% were contributed by the effects of other, non-demographic factors such as the
introduction of new (costly) technologies, the institutional characteristics of health-care systems (e.g. increased number
of people covered by compulsory health insurance), employment and wage growth in the health care system, Baumol
effect on the increase in relative prices 1 and other factors on the supply side. During the period 1995–2008, Slovenia’s
public health care expenditure per capita grew in real terms on average by 4.4% annually, whereby population ageing
contributed 0.8 p.p. and the GDP growth per capita 4.2 p.p., whereas the contribution of non-demographic factors was
negative (-0.6 p.p.). In EU Member States, the contribution of non-demographic factors was +0.8 p.p. on average; the
only country alongside Slovenia that featured a negative effect was Hungary. The coefficient of income elasticity of
public health care expenditure for EU Member States in the aforementioned period thus on average amounted to no less
that 1.3–1.5, while, for Slovenia, this coefficient was only 0.8–1.0. A negative contribution of non-demographic factors
in Slovenia can be partly attributed to effective control of the growth of public expenditure for health care (especially
the increase in wages and the prices of medical products). However, this can also be a result of a slow introduction of
new technologies, poorer facilities, and insufficient number of doctors in the public health care system, a circumstance
which has an impact on the health status of the population. According to life expectancy indicators, Slovenia still lags
behind the EU average, while the healthy life years indicator shows that we are catching up with the EU average 2 (basic
indicators of the population’s health status that also positively correlate with health care expenditures). The OECD
points out (Health Care Systems: Efficiency and Policy Settings, 2010) that life expectancy could be raised by more than
two years on average, holding health care spending constant and improving the performance of health systems, while
further improvement in the population’s health condition would require increased investments in health care.
1
In health care, like in other labour intensive sectors, new technologies do not reduce the quantity of work required, but increase costs. In respect of
other activities, the labour productivity therefore relatively declines with the result that prices in health care grow faster compared to the level of general
price growth.
2
See Life Expectancy and Healthy Life Years indicator.
169
The data provided by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs (MLFSA) refer to September 2011.
170
According to the data of the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs there were 536,922 people insured under the supplementary
pension scheme in September 2011, while in December 2010 this scheme included 541,464 persons.
171
According to the MLFSA data for September 2011, their average monthly amount was between EUR 30 and 40 per insured person.
172
Measured by SHA methodology (System of Health Accounts).