Dôvera private health insurer respects the decision taken by the Court of Justice of the European Union on Thursday, which dismissed its lawsuit against Slovakia. The court reaffirmed the decision of the European Commission from 2014, according to which measures taken to support the state owned SZP and VsZP health insurers did not constitute illegal state aid. Subsequently, Dôvera challenged the decision at the General Court in 2015 and also recruited support from another private health insurer, Union. The General Court issued a verdict in February 2018 in favour of Dôvera's lawsuit, but Slovakia along with the European Commission appealed to the Court of Justice that definitively overturned the ruling on Thursday.
According to the Court of Justice, the operation of VsZP and erstwhile SZP cannot be considered an "economic activity" and the existence of a certain business competition within the Slovak system of mandatory health insurance - such as the insurers' option to offer policyholders complementary insurance - cannot change the social nature of insurance provision system that applies the principle of solidarity under state supervision.
