The Senate established on Monday, March 2, that patients included in the national health programs, those hospitalized and women on maternity leave should receive the full payment of medical leave. The senators adopted, in this sense, an amendment to the Government’s Emergency Ordinance 91/2025, which stipulates that the first day of medical leave is not paid.
There were 72 votes “for” the approval draft of GEO 91/2025 with the introduced amendment, two votes “against” and 8 abstentions, according to Agerpres.
The provisions regarding non-payment of the first day of leave do not apply to medical leave and maternity allowances, medical leave and maternal risk allowances, so the first day of medical leave will be paid, according to the adopted amendment.
The provisions regarding non-payment of the first day will not apply even in the case of medical leaves granted to patients included in the national health programs.
Even in the case of medical leave certificates issued in the case of patients who benefit from the provision of medical services in hospitalization, the adopted amendment also provides that the mentioned provisions will not be applied.
“We cannot accept that administrative measures hit those who are already fighting the disease”
The amendment adopted by the plenary was introduced in the report of the Health Commission and is signed by many senators from PSD, UDMR, AUR and PNL, including Nicoleta Pauliuc (PNL) and Adrian Streinu – Cercel (PSD).
“Today we are voting on the emergency ordinance which generated legitimate concern in society. In its initial form, the ordinance introduced a measure perceived as a sanction applied to the sick: non-payment of the first day of medical leave. We can talk about the need to prevent abuses, we can talk about the need for budgetary discipline, but we cannot accept that administrative measures hit those who are already fighting the disease. The state must combat fraud, not penalize suffering“, Pauliuc motivated the amendment.
“A strong state is a state that does not save on the sick”
The PNL senator explained that she cannot put herself on the same plane “an abuse and a serious diagnosis”.
“We cannot put suspicion and an internment on the same plane. This differentiation is a matter of social justice. So, dear colleagues, our responsibility, as legislators, is to correct when a measure, even if well-intentioned, produces unjust effects, and a strong state is a state that does not skimp on the sick and is a state that protects the dignity of those in suffering“, Pauliuc also said.
Senator Cătălin Graur (PSD) stated that public money must be used responsibly, but without losing sight of the people who really need protection.
“It is right to fight abuses, it is right to introduce clearer rules and more effective mechanisms. The health system cannot work on the basis of the exception transformed into the rule, but it is equally right to say one thing very clearly: we cannot apply measures without exceptions, rigidly, mechanically, ignoring social reality. Government decisions are not for Excel tables, they are for people, and responsible politics means balance, firmness where there are slippages, but protection where there is real suffering.“, he claimed.
“A chronic patient cannot postpone the disease by a day”
AUR Senator Cristian Vântu specified that the AUR group will abstain from voting on this ordinance because “it is not an emergency for medical leaves”, noting that the normative act also has beneficial provisions and in the committee voted for a favorable opinion including for this amendment.
“A chronically ill person cannot postpone the illness by a day and should not lose money for the first day when he tells the doctor that he cannot workyes”, emphasized USR senator Ruxandra Cibu Deaconu.
Vantu added:
“Parliament’s role is to correct where unfair effects occur in an emergency ordinance. This is what our intervention today is about. We understand the Government’s objective. There are abuses, there are illegally granted leaves, there is pressure on the health budget, fighting fraud is a legitimate objective, but the solutions must be proportionate and we must distinguish between abuse and real illness. An oncological patient, a diabetic, a heart patient, a person with autoimmune diseases or included in the national health programs is not a statistic, it is a taxpayer who has paid into the system and who has the right to protection if needed, that is why we support the amendments”.
Government Emergency Ordinance 91/2025 regarding the establishment of measures within the health system, which entered into force, provides that “for the medical leave certificates issued between February 1, 2026 and December 31, 2027, the social health insurance allowances provided by the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 158/2005 regarding holidays and social health insurance allowances, approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 399/2006, are calculated and paid by decreasing by one day”.
These must be borne by the employer, from the 2nd day up to and including the 6th day of temporary incapacity for work, in the case of indemnities for temporary incapacity for work, with the exception of indemnities related to medical leave certificates granted to insured persons for whom the measure of isolation was instituted, according to Law no. 136/2020 regarding the establishment of measures in the field of public health in situations of epidemiological and biological risk.
These leaves will be paid from the budget of the National Single Health Social Insurance Fund, starting from the day following those paid by the employer and until the date of termination of the insured person’s temporary incapacity for work or his retirement, as well as from the 2nd day in the case of allowances that are paid in full according to the law from the budget of the National Single Health Social Insurance Fund, the ordinance in force also provides.
The Senate is the first referred forum, the Chamber of Deputies being decision-making.
