Alexandru Rafila: The National Health Insurance House is not being abolished

The National Health Insurance House is not being abolished, nor has anyone asked for it, says the Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila. He mentioned that the organization of this institution must be discussed.

Alexandru Rafila: I never heard about the abolition of the National Insurance House, that's how the news appeared. Yes, we need to discuss how to organize services or settle services and my opinion is that competition is always welcome. For example, there are four health insurance companies in Israel. They are all public, let's face it, they are not private houses. Such a competitive situation can lead to the improvement of the quality of medical services, but we are discussing matters of principle, we are not yet discussing the details. We have prepared various options and this is a decision that requires many normative acts and not only that, but also a lot of work and professionalism. So it's a path, not a decision.

The Health Insurance Houses have been operating since 1999. Until this date, the health system, made up of a network of hospitals, polyclinics, dispensaries and other health units, was centrally coordinated by the Ministry of Health, through the 41 County Health Directorates and the Sanitary Directorate of the Municipality of Bucharest.

Translated by: Radu Matei