A U-turn on hospital reform a day before the August 5 vote
The decision to support the reform, as determined by Rynek Zdrowia, was made today (August 4th) at the Left Party's parliamentary group meeting. Our findings were confirmed by the club's spokesperson.
"Our representative at the Ministry of Health, Deputy Minister Wojciech Konieczny, had a long and substantive conversation with the new minister, Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda. The conclusion of the discussion is that the new minister is open to further amendments to the law," Łukasz Michnik , spokesman for the Left, told Rynek Zdrowia.
" We maintain our position that this bill is imperfect , but recognizing the need to quickly rescue funds from the National Health Fund (KPO)—the PLN 10 billion that this bill will unlock for hospitals— we simply recognize the overriding necessity for this money to flow into our healthcare system. With the caveat that we will continue to work on this bill in the future," he adds.
The vote on the bill was originally scheduled for June 25th . A few hours before, during the second reading, the Left surprised its coalition partners by declaring that it would not support the bill. The vote was then postponed to August 5th (details below).
"Not everything in politics is as complicated as we think. While the parliamentary caucus meeting was taking place, the coalition meeting (referring to the meeting two weeks ago - ed.) was taking place. Therefore, not everyone in the caucus participated, and not all information was shared. The request for postponement was made at my request. Let me just remind you that our ministers at the government meeting supported this bill. This is a bill that is accepted by the government, and it is a government bill ," Włodzimierz Czarzasty , Deputy Speaker of the Sejm and one of the Left's leaders, explained in an interview with TVN24 before today's parliamentary caucus meeting.
"I think the Left needed these few days, a moment of time, to talk it over and come to an agreement. Their MPs like to surprise, but I don't think there will be another surprise tomorrow, " Marta Golbik , chairwoman of the parliamentary Health Committee, told Rynek Zdrowia.
However, the opposition, which criticized the project two weeks ago, will not change its mind.
- We will vote against - Janusz Cieszyński maintains PiS's position.
" We had a promise from former Minister Izabela Leszczyna that she would meet with us and present specific proposals. And that promise was broken. Not because she was dismissed, but because she once again told lies. We believe that this reform is far from sufficient on its own. Without discussing the details of a broader strategy, it will be difficult for me to support it," the former Deputy Minister of Health explains.
In turn, the Confederation and the Free Republicans Parliamentary Group submitted motions in the second reading to reject the bill in its entirety.
Let us recall that on June 25, on the day of voting on the bill, the Left surprised its coalition partners.
- We will abstain from voting - announced Joanna Wicha , MP from the Left.
She stressed that reform is necessary, but this project "does not repair the foundations of the system."
" There are elements in this bill that we consider a step in the right direction. At the same time, too many provisions currently raise our strong objections, or at least doubts. This bill, which ostensibly modernizes the system, in practice paves the way for the commercialization of hospital operations, the centralization of decisions in the hands of the president of the National Health Fund, and short-sighted cost-cutting at the expense of patients," she concluded.
With the entire opposition opposed and one coalition partner failing to support it (the others supported the bill), the government lacked the majority to pass the bill. Therefore, it was decided to withdraw this item from the agenda.
It's worth noting that a similar situation occurred in March during the vote on the health insurance contribution bill. The Left opposed the reduction in the contribution for entrepreneurs, and the bill was also dropped from the voting schedule at the last minute.
The left also blocked earlier versions of hospital reform projects .
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