The introduction of co-payment in the Romanian health system was postponed by the Government till further notice. The co-payment was one of the agreements struck by the Romanian government with the IMF, the European Committee and the World Bank.
The postponement was adopted in consensus with the IMF. “The co-payment will be negotiated with the patients association and the professional associations. The law decrees that the co-payment will be set after negotiations. A majority of the patients association resist such a measure. The implementation of co-payment will probably take a long time.
Negotiations will begin next week. In earlier discussions, the co-payment measure was to be implemented in the fall, but now we can’t set a date until negotiations are made,†stated Health Minister Vasile Cepoi.
How much will the patients have to pay:
In the beginning of August, the Health Officials left open to public discussions a project stating that the ensured population will have to accept a co-payment for medical services provided in hospitals. So, for medical services provided in a hospital category I the co-payment would be 60Ron per day, 50Ron for a II category hospital, 40 Ron for a III category hospital, 30 for the IV category hospital and 20 for a V category hospital and for unclassifiable hospitals.
The minimum co-payment per consultation performed by a medic without a professional rank and with specialist professional rank is 4 Ron and the highest per consultation for a consultant is 5 Ron.
In the case of ambulatory medical assistance, co-payment taxes for medical consultations range between 5-7 Ron. For high investigations such as the co-payment prices are as follow: MRI – 150Ron, MRI with contrast substances 250Ron, CT’s 100 Ron, CT’s with contrast substances 150 Ron.
Social Categories exempt from co-payment:
Exempt from co-payment are children under 18, children between 18-26 if they are students, the sick people included in the national health programs established by the Health Ministry, the unemployed, the retired with pensions under 740 Ron/Month, pregnant women.
