ABUSES REVEALED IN HEALTH INSURANCE

Serious financial irregularities have been reported in an inner examination of National Health Insurance Funds (OEP) in a model experiment which served the wish of the government to reform Hungarian health system.

The awkward statements may have played a part in the resignation of Zsuzsanna Matejka, general director of OEP. The medical attendance system, as it is officially called, has created a number of unclarified financial problems. The experiment started in 1999 and in mid-2003 the medical attendance of one million citizens was directed by 11 organizations making profit from economizing medical attendance.

It turned out that there were no documents about the financial state support of these organizations and the checking had to be made by private interviews. The irregularities were so grave that revisors proposed to check the operation of the system back to 1999. Zsuzsa Matejka was affected in the case unpleasantly because she came to her position from one of such medical attendance organizations in Veresegyház. The government wanted to base the health reform on this model to facilitate profit orientated units take part in the work of health insurance.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó