Védegylet - To our health! Cheers!

Unprecedented in the history of democracy in Hungary is the success of today’s move for a national referendum, the first referendum to be successfully initiated by civil organisations and trade unio_ns in Hungary. The referendum will be on the question: “Do you agree that Hungary should not introduce a compulsory health care system based on multiple profit-oriented insurers?”

To our health! Cheers!
TB mentők (First Aid for Social Health Insurance)
on the referendum in autumn 2008
on the partial privatisation of health care in Hungary

Press Release, April 14, 2008

Unprecedented in the history of democracy in Hungary is the success of today’s move for a national referendum, the first referendum to be successfully initiated by civil organisations and trade unio_ns in Hungary.

The referendum will be on the question: “Do you agree that Hungary should not introduce a compulsory health care system based on multiple profit-oriented insurers?” A successful referendum will require 2 million ‘yeses’, to become mandatory. This is popularly regarded as one of – if not the - most significant political issue since the change of system 17 years ago.

Almost 500, 000 signatures – 300, 000 more than what’s officially required for initiating a referendum – were handed into the National Elections Committee, making a referendum on the exclusion of business interests from the Health Insurance funds a certainty this autumn. With the ruling Socialist Party (MSZP) constantly changing their standpoint in a period of shaky parliamentary equilibrium between the main coalition parties, only the final say of a national referendum can really prevent the planned partial privatisation of social health insurance in Hungary.

It is against this background that the initiating organisations decided to press forward with the call for a referendum: public opinion has shown steady opposition to the planned reforms: the government’s present ‘commitment’ to rethinking the reforms and shutting out business cannot be trusted. A successful referendum guarantees that for at least 3 years profit interests are kept out of the state health insurance system, and citizens can now work towards demanding a health service that responds to their needs, not that of business.

The future of the planned „reform” of social health insurance is not merely of domestic importance – moves to privatise public services are more and more in the focus of political turmoil and unrest in Europe, and have long been a focus of people’s struggles in the developing world. The Hungarian campaign looks to become a positive example of what can be achieved.

Background:

Amid wide scale protest in Hungary, in December 2007 the ruling Socialist-Liberal (MSZP and SZDSZ) government rushed through Parliament a new law on health insurance in Hungary, basically shunning the social consultations required by law to build a social consensus in an issue of such national importance. As proposed by the new law, the present system of compulsory and unified social health insurance would be divided into 22 regional insurers, 49% of each being owned by private insurers, who were to be granted majority decision making rights. The public refused this concept. The President of the Republic was also unconvinced of the law’s acceptability, refusing to sign it and returning it to Parliament for review – a symbolic gesture the ruling coalition largely ignored, voting for the law yet again at its second reading…

Civil organisations in Hungary have been against the planned privatisation of the health insurance system from the very beginning. In their view, the privatisation of health insurance would not have solved any of the present problems, but would only have created new ones and would eventually serve the interest of private business ventures only. Three civil organisations, Protect the Future! (Védegylet), Humanist Movement (Humanista Mozgalom) and The National Association of Large Families (Nagycsaládosok Országos Egyesülete) formed a coalition to campaign against the planned system rushed through by the government. This coalition went on to become part of a wider coalition for initiating the referendum, including the LIGA Trade Unio_ns (LIGA Szakszervezetek), the National Association of Workers’ Councils (Munkástanácsok Országos Szövetsége), the Democratic Trade Uni_on of Health Care Workers (EDDSZ) as well as other trade unio_ns and civil organisations.

The main aim of the initiative for the referendum is not only to reject profit interests, but to reclaim the democratic right to decide on a social issue of unprecedented importance: the reform of the health insurance in the country is widely regarded as one of the most important issues since the change of the political system. Polls have shown that the majority of society rejects the privatisation of health insurance, and hence should be given the right and the possibility to express their opinion. The campaign also set out open up debate and to pressurise politicians into finally concentrating on real solutions and the way out of the present problems in health care. We cannot be accused of being „anti-reformists” – salient reform proposals for health care were put forward by Protect the Future! two years ago and The National Association of Large Families a year ago.

Among our top priorities in societal goals is to guarantee quality health care for everyone. Health care is not a commodity but a human right to fulfil. First Aid for Social Health Insurance (TB Mentők) believes that this right as part of a basic value system should be reflected in the state budget, in a way that the ratio of spending on health care should not be decreased but, rather, increased. The campaign will now move into a second stage – the signatures are collected, but the population has to remain motivated to actually mobilise for the referendum.

The future of public services throughout Europe and the world is still an open question. Thus the future of the proposed reforms of social health care in Hungary is not only of domestic importance. It has already drawn attention from all over the world, not only from business circles but from political and civil organisations across Europe. This experience will be shared, in the hope that building a social Europe, and a globally responsible Europe, will benefit from the experience gained in Hungary, and draw from the strength of the commitment to a solidarity based health service, a right for all.

Further information:

- Zsolt Boda, Spokesperson, Protect the Future (Védegylet)
- Tibor Várady, Humanist Movement (Humanista Mozgalom)
- Endre Szabó, Chairman, National Association of Large Families (Nagycsaládosok Országos Egyesülete)