An overview of the healthcare system in the Slovak Republic

Healthcare system in Slovakia is neither Bismarck nor Beveridge nor National Health Insurance model, although it has certain features of all. The healthcare contributions are mandatory and are paid to the health insurance company. An insured citizen is almost unlimited as for the amount of healthcare spending but the reimbursement limits are set for the particular healthcare providers. Over 98% of the population is covered by health insurance. Public healthcare expenditure has been approximately 3400 millions € in 2009, which represents around 5.36% of gross domestic product. Around 78% of the 5.4 million population may be regarded to as relatively healthy. The 22% suffer of the most common diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory diseases, psychiatric diseases, infectious diseases and cancer. New government has now a unique opportunity to implement the concept of predictive, preventive and personalized medicine for the benefit of each citizen and the entire country.