Polish health care requires serious reform. The facts speak for themselves

NFZ, zdjęcie ilustracyjne

Underfinancing of the Polish health service remains a key problem, despite rising expenses. System reform and new sources of financing are necessary to meet the health challenges of Poles.

The Polish health care system has been struggling with the problem of underfinancing for years, which has a direct impact on the health of citizens. In the coming years, health care spending will have to grow, and the source of financing will increasingly come from other taxes, not only health insurance premiums. Even if the ruling coalition decides not to reduce contributions, it will be necessary to find new sources of financial support for the health care system.

In 2025, changes are planned in the health insurance contribution calculation system, especially with regard to income from transactions related to the sale of fixed assets. However, the proposals of the ruling coalition, although they may bring relief to taxpayers, are controversial because they may lead to a reduction in revenues to the National Health Fund (NFZ). Therefore, many solutions proposed by various groups are criticized, and some of them are considered risky.

The pandemic has exposed shortcomings in health care financing

The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown how underinvested the Polish health service is. In response to this challenge, an amendment to the Act on health services financed from public funds was introduced in 2021. The act set an ambitious goal: to increase health care spending to 7% by 2027. GDP. For comparison, in the pre-pandemic period this level was around 5%. GDP.

Although health spending has indeed increased in recent years, there has been no significant improvement. In 2023, public expenditure temporarily reached 7%. GDP, but this was related to extremely high inflation, which distorts the actual data. In the long term, Poland still lags behind countries with a similar level of development when it comes to healthcare spending.

Currently, health care spending is calculated in relation to GDP from two years ago. As a result, in 2024, despite real increases in expenditure, their ratio to GDP will decrease. This is due to the fact that two years earlier, as a result of record inflation, GDP increased by almost 17%. Although nominal health expenditure also increased, their real value, especially in the context of inflation, did not improve significantly.

In response to this situation, the Left proposed that health care spending should be related to the current GDP, and not to the indicators from two years ago. The party also calls for increasing spending on health care to 8%. GDP to better adapt the system to society’s needs.

Poland compared to other European Union countries

In 2023, public spending on health in Poland amounted to approximately 5.3-5.4%. GDP, which puts our country at the bottom of the ranking of European Union and OECD countries. In 2022, only a few EU countries, such as Romania, Ireland and Lithuania, allocated less funds to health than Poland. Even in these cases, the differences were small, and per capita expenditure in these countries was much higher than in Poland.

It is also worth noting that although health expenditures increased temporarily in 2023, over the course of several years this increase was not significant. Compared to 2019, nominal expenses increased from PLN 107 billion to approximately PLN 200 billion in 2024. However, in the context of inflation and rising costs of medical services, real health expenditures have not improved significantly. For example, the prices of medical services in Poland increased by 82% between 2015 and 2023, while the general level of consumer prices increased by 47%.

Health expenditure – too little compared to needs

Compared to other countries, Poland spends too little on health care, both public and private. In 2022, according to Eurostat data, total health expenditure in Poland amounted to 6.7%. GDP, while the EU average was 8.8%. We are even ahead of many countries with a lower level of development, such as Chile or Costa Rica.

Even though the Polish health care system has nominally increased expenditure, actual health support remains insufficient. Many people still use private services, which shows how much the health sector needs reforms to adapt to the growing needs of citizens.

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