NGOs and celebrities sent out a letter to reconstruct free wellness care for non-working Ukrainians. NFZ Response

After the entry into force of the Act of 5 March, any non-employed citizens Ukraine lost automatic access to free healthcare in Poland. This change has been criticised by NGOs, which call for the restoration of earlier solutions.

The fresh rules abolished the right to free treatment for persons who are subject to temporary protection who do not have a wellness insurance certificate. In consequence to these regulations, respective social organisations have issued a joint appeal to the key ministries, demanding urgent intervention after the current rules on access to benefits expired.

The authors of the appeal point out that the changes hit the poorest seniors who do not have the chance to get insurance. In their view, the current situation poses a real threat to the lives and wellness of those who have previously benefited from systemic care and are not able to defend their wellness needs on their own today.

One example is the 73-year-old Ukrainian citizen surviving in Poland since 2022. He maintains a very low pension and struggles with an oncological illness requiring costly treatment. Following the amendment of the legislation, she lost access to wellness insurance and, due to her age, she can neither benefit from unemployment nor voluntary insurance. In practice, this means losing the anticipation of continuing therapy.

Social organisations item the request for coordinated action between ministries and to rapidly reduce the negative effects of fresh regulations. respective twelve entities and public people signed the appeal, including Agnieszka Holland.

Currently, the PESEL number itself, with the designation UKR, no longer entitles to free healthcare under the rules in force between 2022 and 2025. In order to access benefits financed by public funds, it is essential to have an insurance title, for example through employment or self-payment of contributions. In practice, this means that Ukrainian citizens are subject to rules akin to those of uninsured Polish citizens.

One possible way to access benefits is to transfer pensions to Poland via the bank. After completion of the formalities, specified a individual is reported for wellness insurance, which gives him the right to treatment on a akin basis to Polish pensioners. Alternatively, it is possible to study for insurance as a household associate by a individual working or covered by insurance.

However, the duration of the procedures remains a major problem. The transfer of benefits, requiring confirmation of data by Ukrainian institutions, can take respective months to even 1 year.

The transfer itself does not mean to grant a fresh benefit in Poland, but to transfer funds developed abroad. Retirement is covered by a wellness premium of 9 percent, which provides access to care, but at the same time reduces elder income.

The wellness hotel points out that it does not plan to introduce additional regulations on temporary protection, stressing that the current rules are as closely as possible to those of Polish citizens in force. In practice, this means that people without insurance are in a situation akin to uninsured Poles.

After changing the regulations, medical institutions began to issue bills to patients from Ukraine who do not have insurance. any of these claims stay unregulated.

The first cumulative data on treatment costs and debt scale are to be published after the end of the reporting period in April.

The fresh regulations besides reduced the phenomenon referred to as medical tourism, to which doctors had previously pointed out. In the erstwhile legal state, people who legally crossed the border after 24 February 2022 could benefit from free wellness care and reimbursement of medicines on an equal basis to Polish citizens.

Funding exile treatment was a crucial burden on the budget. In subsequent years, expenditures for this intent increased, reaching hundreds of millions of PLN per year. In total, over 1 million people benefited from public funds and the full cost of treatment reached respective billion PLN.

Comment: The same organisations and entities would never show the same concern for the welfare of the needy Poles. In this example, we can clearly see what their basic priorities are. If something like this had happened to a citizen of the Republic of Poland, would theorize that he had “deserved it himself” and here? Full of empathy and compassion. I believe that work for this group of people lies solely with the Ukrainian Government and Volodymyr Zelenski.