The Reform of Health Care in Croatia

Svjetska banka svojim studijama i prijedlozima u velikoj mjeri utječe na smjer i opseg socijalnih reformi u Hrvatskoj. U prošlom broju časopisa objavili smo dio studije Svjetske banke posvećen mirovinskoj reformi, a u ovom broju objavljujemo dio posvećen reformi zdravstvenog sektora. Valja napomenuti to da je Svjetska banka u lipnju 1999. godine objavila posebnu studiju o zdravstvenom sektoru ( Croatia. A Health Policy Note ) te da su oba dokumenta važan izvor prijedloga za reformu hrvatskog zdravstva. U drugom dijelu ovog priloga objavljujemo dio dokumenta Ministarstva zdravstva Republike Hrvatske iz lipnja 2000. godine pod naslovom Reforma zdravstva. Strategija i plan reforme zdravstva i zdravstvenog osiguranja Republike Hrvatske.A study of the World Bank entitled A Policy Agenda for Reform and Growth , presented to the Croatian public in February 2000, deals with different areas of social and economic life. In the study, special attention is devoted to the pension and health care sectors. These are systems with a large expenditure of public revenues, which, at the same time, possess insufficient funds to ensure a range of old or new increased rights and needs. Therefore, the policy towards these sectors and plans for their reform are attracting a great deal of public interest, particularly because the World Bank in its studies and proposals influences to a large degree the direction and scope of these reforms. Since in the previous issue of this journal part of the study devoted to the pension reform was published, in this issue we are publishing the part dealing with the reform of the health care sector. It is also important to mention that in June 1999 the World Bank published a separate study which dealt with the health care sector ( Croatia. A Health Policy Note ), and that both these documents are significant sources of suggestions for the reform of health care. In the second part of this article, we publish part of the document of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Croatia of June 2000, under the title Reform of Health Care, Strategy and Plan of the Reform of Health Care and Health Insurance in the Republic of Croatia . On the basis of this document the reform of health care has already started in Croatia, so readers will in part be able to evaluate critically the course of the reform, as well as the influence of the World Bank on its design. However, we must stress in particular that we are publishing only the part of this document where the strategy and implementation of the reform is directly addressed, and that for a more detailed analysis, the entire document of the Ministry of Health should be studied