Ombudsman Matjaz Hanzek has called on the country's leading mutual insurer not to mark up additional health insurance premiums for those over 60. The government should promptly draw up legislation on offset schemes, or preferably cancel additional insurance altogether, Hanzek told the press on Tuesday.

If insurance companies must categorise their clients by offering them lower or higher premiums, they should do so considering their lifestyles - insurers have probably the right to increase premiums for those opting for a lifestyle that involves risk. While allowing that, Hanzek said increasing premiums for the elderly was unfair.

The ombudsman pointed to the fact that the government had made a commitment four years ago to enact offset schemes whereby part of the profits of insurers with younger policyholders would be channelled to those with elderly clients.
Yet while aimed at creating the same conditions for the operation of various insurers, such schemes are but an "aspirin" to alleviate the pain of an "illness" that should have been cured, Hanzek said.
Additional insurance (supplement to mandatory insurance up to full cover) should be done away with, while insurers can market extra insurance services as they see fit, Hanzek said, referring to one of the most harshly criticised aspects of Slovenia's insurance system.

Vzajemna, by far the biggest mutual insurer in the country, announced last month that it would raise additional health insurance premiums by 13.5 percent as of 1 August for its 383,000 policyholders who are aged above 60.


Source: STA, 6 July 2004