BRATISLAVA, November 5, (WEBNOVINY) — KDH Chairman Jan Figel finds it remarkable that on the very day when Prime Minister Robert Fico said that the decision on creation of a unitary health insurance system is irreversible, a partner of the investment group Penta controlling the health insurer Dovera issued a statement that did not take on the prime minister but instead attacked the opposition parties when Penta partner Eduard Matak sent an open letter to chairpersons of SDKU-DS, KDH and MOST-HID to protest against their statements allegedly scandalizing the potential payment of hundreds of millions of euros to owners of private insurance companies. Figel labeled the letter a coordinated marketing step with the party SMER-SD in defending their joint procedure. “The public would be definitively curious as to under what conditions the co-ownership of a Cypriot shell company in this insurer was recently settled and who were the Slovak shareholders in this company,” said Figel.
The KDH leader is convinced it is his right to ask whether the EUR 500 million reserve that the prime minister planned in next year’s state budget will serve to acquire a health insurer, for example Dovera. Figel told Matak that no partner in Penta will tell him what topics he can deal with in the public. He underscored that center-right parties have introduced plurality in public health insurance and they support it. He questioned the investment amounting to hundreds of millions of euros that should be spent for the establishment of a unitary health insurer system amidst the crisis when unemployment and taxes are rising. The government wants to undertake a legal and economic adventure for which it currently does not have money. Figel also spoke about possible expropriation of private health insurers that should follow the failure to agree with their owners. “The eligibility for appropriate compensation in the expropriation process is anchored in the legal system of the Slovak Republic and I have never doubted it. To use it as a tool in this deal might be advantageous for Penta and also for Robert Fico as it would enable both sides to safe their face,” concluded Figel.
SITA