Look at the fee, it's not the fee! This is how we could describe what is happening these days with patients' money in Romania. After at the end of last week the Government adopted the Emergency Ordinance which partially eliminated the taxation of medical leaves, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu came up with an addition: those suffering from chronic diseases will also be exempted from payment.
Sickness tax, for some a mummy, for others a plague. Photo source: archive
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced yesterday that chronic patients will also be exempt from the disease tax, in addition to oncological patients, pregnant women and mothers with sick children. “I made a quick decision, because there was a delay in intervening in the Parliament on this normative act, and I made a decision, there are no problems regarding the chronically ill“, the prime minister wanted to clarify things. “We took a decision in the Government and exempted from this tax, in other words, the one in sick leave for motherhood, for having a sick child, for chronic diseases, for cancer. They will have additional income with this 10% tax“, added Marcel Ciolacu.
But until he sees it with his own eyes, he doesn't believe it. This was the message sent by Radu Gănescu, the president of the Coalition of Organizations of Patients with Chronic Diseases in Romania. “For now, everyone who takes sick leave pays. Currently, whether you are an old patient, whether you have an acute condition, or whether you are a mother with a child who has a certain health problem, you pay 10% more. And I hope that this money earned so far by the Romanian state also ends up in health“, he stated for “Adevărul”.
Radu Gănescu told us that this decision represents a victory with a bitter taste. “In a way, our pressure not to discriminate against patients resonated. It seems to me somehow logical to enter into a normal thinking, not to start discriminating or overcharging a patient. This should have been the intention of the authorities from the beginning. To support and help patients to become as active and involved as possible in the community. The announced decision is, in fact, a normality considered a victory, and this is how we enjoy things that are natural after all. We shouldn't have ended up in this situation“, he also wanted to specify.
Because we are talking about chronic patients, it must be remembered that these conditions are extremely numerous. Therefore, Radu Gănescu fears that this decision might not cover all of them. “It is hard for me to believe that the Emergency Ordinance will include all the chronically ill, that it will also come with a table of all existing diseases. There are also rare diseases here… It will always be a gray area, interpretable, because we are talking about many ailments”.
All patients should have the same rights
But, all in all, it seems that a little justice is being done. “It's a change of dialogue. A step forward, although none of the sick categories should have been paid. From now on we hope that things will move very quickly so that this change can be made by tomorrow if possible. Because, beyond words and promises, the tax has effects even at the present time”, the president of chronic patients also specified. “It's a story for my children. I don't take them cake because they weren't good but in the end I give in and take the cake and they are happy and say look what a good father we have“, this exemplified the game of black and white with Romanians' health. “Medical leave is a right. Every employee pays his taxes monthly from his gross income and it is not an income given by anyone, it is not a handout, we work for him and he should not be taxed more than he is”.
But, Radu Gănescu believes, all patients in Romania should benefit from the same rights. “What we have seen so far from the statements, that we remove categories of patients, that we add categories, is not normal and Romanian citizens should not be divided like this. On the contrary. They should all be supported“. Gănescu refers to the other employees in Romania who fall ill and need medical leave. Unfortunately, they will continue to receive lower amounts for the period of medical care and recovery.
As of January 1 this year, all sick leave was taxed at an additional 10%. The reason? From 870 million lei per year, how much the state paid for medical leaves issued before the pandemic, now it has reached the payment of 6 billion lei. An enormous amount, say the Government officials, who tried to tighten the belt and bring some more money to the budget. But money taken from the pockets of the sick.
Until January of this year, an employee who was on medical leave received 65% of the gross salary. This, after his social security contributions and income tax were withheld. In mid-December of last year, the Government decided to introduce a new tax: it is about taxing medical leave with an additional 10%. The money represents the contribution to health from the allowance received, and the decision was taken with the adoption of the fiscal-budgetary measures. Basically, then, the governors did a calculation and realized that in 2023 they settled far too many medical leaves compared to the number of employees.
