Specialist doctor visit fee could rise to €20
The fee to see a specialist could quadruple from €5 to €20 for working people under a new proposal by the Minister of Health Riina Sikkut (SDE). The idea will be presented to the government today.
The payment would continue to be €5 for children and pensioners, Sikkut told Tuesday's (September 10) "Vikerhommik". There is no plan to introduce a fee to see a family doctor.
But several other payments have been earmarked to rise.
This includes the fee to visit the emergency department EMO, which has a suggested new price of €20. Sikkut said this could help change people's behavior and direct them to seek help from a family doctor instead. It is currently €5.
Another is the "In-patient fee in hospital" fee from €2.5 to €5.
The prescription fee will increase from €2.5 to €3.5. Sikkut said this would have the biggest impact on the budget as millions of prescriptions are purchased in Estonia every year.
The minister admitted the increase is significant.
"But this increase in the co-payment burden will be spread over a larger number of people, and will tend to go up for those with better incomes and health. Then we can alleviate the burden for those who are really already overburdened by it," she told "Vikerhommik".
The changes are expected to add approximately €15 million each year to the state budget.
"In the current budgetary situation, with all the extra revenue from taxes going to buy ammunition, this will allow us to maintain the current level of service in health care if we use the reserves that have been built up for this purpose. But in the long term, more money for health care is certainly needed," stated Sikkut.
The minister expects the proposals to be adopted during budget negotiations, which are taking place this week.
The visit fee is a surcharge that a health care provider is entitled to request from an insured person for health care services that are paid for by the Health Insurance Fund (Tervisekassa).
The current fee for a visit to a specialized doctor (including a dentist) is €5, as set by a government regulation. The fee may not be charged for visits to a specialized doctor when a person is referred by another healthcare professional in the same health institution, for pregnant women, children under two years of age, and for emergency care followed by hospitalization.
A family doctor may only charge a fee for a home visit up to €5.
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Editor: Mirjam Mäekivi, Helen Wright
Source: "Vikerhommik", interview by Kirke Ert and Taavi Libe
