The state will boost the capital of state-run health insurer Vseobecna zdravotna poistovna (VsZP) by €100 million, Economy Minister Richard Sulik (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS) told a press briefing on Wednesday, adding that this move was approved by the Government at its session on the same day.
Sulik claims that the process is a prudent step in an effort to eliminate the risk of litigation. He referred to a dispute concerning health-insurance companies in which Slovakia succeeded at the Court of Justice in Luxembourg. In June, the court upheld a European Commission decision as of 2014 that various measures taken in favour of state health-insurance companies didn't violate state aid rules, thereby dismissing a complaint submitted by Slovak private health insurer Dovera.
Both private health insurance companies, Dovera and Union, consider this step to be unfair. Finance Minister Eduard Heger sees no reason why the state should share in losses when private health insurers didn't want to share their profits. State-run VsZP responded by saying that the steps related to boosting its capital are fully within the powers of its sole shareholder.
