Health care reforms envisaged in Hungary

The Hungarian government is preparing a range of radical reforms of the health service focusing in particular on a comprehensive re-organization of the hospital sector, higher standards for general practitioners and charges for medical visits.

The current system has seen large increases in costs but without generating improved health. Hungarian life expectancy is around 72.4 years - fairly low in the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development league table and well below neighboring Austria's 78.5 years, which was achieved with lower health service costs.

The Gyucsany regime in Budapest has now been pressurized into action by the health budget which is showing a deficit of over 10% of Gross Domestic Product. A range of patient charges appears inevitable, given that 1.3 million people currently receive medical services without paying a single forint.