Minister of wellness in the Government of Donald Tusk, Isabella Lestin announcedthat due to the rapidly expanding needs of the wellness system, the wellness contribution must increase. – wellness contributions, we already know, are insufficient She said. It is worth noting that for 3 years now we have been spending gigantic amounts on the free treatment of Ukrainian alleged "war refugees" and illegal migrants residing in the country.
The wellness contribution will go up hard. Starting in 2026, it will be recalculated from 100% of the minimum wage, which means a return to the rules in force in 2024 and will consequence in a crucial increase in fees. This year it is PLN 314.96 per month, in the future it will most likely increase to PLN 432.54. This means an increase of 30%.
Minister of wellness Izabel Leszczyn, asked by PAP whether the simplification of the contribution base adopted for 2024 should besides apply in subsequent years, said that as head of the wellness department she would like as much money as possible for the NFZ, among others to finance costly benefits from the guaranteed benefit basket.
– wellness protection surely needs money and the wellness minister would like the wellness contribution to be as advanced as possible, but it must be accepted by the general public. wellness contributions, we already know, are insufficient She said.
According to the draft financial plan of NFZ, its expenditure in 2026 will scope PLN 217.4 billion, including just over PLN 201 billion is expenditure on wellness care. In comparison to this year, a smaller share of the Fund's gross will be the proceeds from the wellness contribution. In 2025 it was 87.08 percent, and next year – 84.33 percent. This means that contributions are not adequate to keep the strategy and must be added to it from the state budget.
This year alone, the grant represents 9.2% of NFZ's revenues, and the task for 2026 provides for backing of PLN 11.89%, or 26 billion. This is almost PLN 8 billion more than this year. It is worth noting that the wellness crisis deepened in 2022, since the Polish care strategy was spread over 2 nations – Polish and Ukrainian. The Ukrainians who travel to our country are treating us with diseases that they were incapable to fight in their homeland due to the fact that they could not afford.
No strategy can withstand the prolonged maintenance of 2 nations.
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