The idea has two parts.

Firstly, employers could contribute to their employees’ health tax-free, increasing the annual amount from the current €400 to €1,000. I dare to say that many employers who currently invest €400 per year in their employees’ health would do so to a much greater extent if they didn’t have to pay fringe benefit tax on it. This would bring additional funds into the healthcare system.

Secondly, the Health Insurance Fund could promote patient treatment in private healthcare on a larger scale. Here’s an example: a patient receives a referral from their family doctor to see a cardiologist, and the waiting time for a Health Insurance Fund appointment is two months. The patient has a choice—either wait for two months or go to a private clinic where they can get an appointment, say, within two weeks. The patient pays for the private clinic visit and then, when the Health Insurance Fund’s turn for the patient would have arrived—approximately two months later—they receive a reimbursement from the Health Insurance Fund based on its price list for part of the cost of the private visit. This way, a) the patient gets an appointment faster, b) resources in the public system are freed up, and c) even patients who don’t want to go to a private clinic would get an appointment sooner due to the freed-up resources.

Therefore, public-private sector cooperation shouldn’t be viewed in a black-and-white manner, i.e., whether to have a solidarity system or not. These systems could successfully complement each other.