The President of the National Health Insurance Company (CNAS), Valeria Herdea, stated that the aim is to provide quality in medical services, but that we must also be aware of the level of budget allocation.
Valeria Herdea presented her activity balance. Photo source: archive
Valeria Herdea stated, on Friday, in a press conference, that of the 16.7 million insured people, only 6.2 million are health insurance payers.
“Our desire is to offer quality, but we must also be aware of the level of budget allocation. As long as this is the budget allocation, we will do everything we can, but we cannot do more than we can. And it is important to understand that yes, consistent efforts are being made to have inter-institutional collaboration with all the competent institutions in order to be able to access funds in all possible ways. What is important to know is that, indeed, at this moment we have a total of 16,764,725 people insured at the level of the Insurance House. We have 6,238,919 payers, 10,526,606 non-payers, including pensioners, children in some form of school. Of course there are many exempt categories. Not all are the prerogative of the Insurance House, but the health problems of Romanians are the prerogative of the National Health Insurance House. We also reiterate that prevention activities are carried out at the level of the Ministry of Health, so there is consistent support from there as well“, explained Valeria Herdea.
Regarding the fiscal measures that could be introduced next year in order to eliminate all the exceptions that remain in force, Herdea specified that “I don’t think you need to discuss fiscal measures with us. We have meetings almost weekly, if not bi-weekly, with the Minister of Finance. We are all making efforts to find solutions, because, unfortunately, the number of patients is increasing day by day. The fund allocated to Health has increased a lot compared to other times, but it is still insufficient, because we have an allocation of 6.5% of the Gross Domestic Product, while other countries in Western Europe have an allocation of 11-14%”, said Valeria Herdea.
Valeria Herdea, balance sheet after six months of activity at the head of the CNAS
She also took stock of the activity she has carried out since becoming the head of CNAS. In this context, she said that new service packages have been introduced that can benefit insured and uninsured people, on the main levels of medical assistance, in order to detect serious conditions, namely cancer, chronic hepatitis B and C, and in pregnant women and HIV/AIDS. “For the oncological diagnostic services provided to uninsured people, funding will not come from the contributions paid by the insured, but from the state budget”, the institution also said in a press release.
In the list of compensated drugs, Herdea also declared, 28 unique drugs were introduced, of which 22 new drugs covering therapeutic areas such as the treatment of chronic viral hepatitis D, neurological conditions, rheumatology, dermatology, ophthalmology, certain kidney diseases and certain rare diseases.
Valeria Herdea mentioned that the desire of CNAS is to provide quality in terms of medical services, but that we must also be aware of the level of budget allocation.
In the press conference organized at the institution’s headquarters, Valeria Herdea also spoke about the validity period of the replacement card certificate that is issued for people with a damaged, lost, stolen card, etc., which extends to 60 days until the new card is issued.
