Health ministry proposes new tax for long-term care

Public invited to discuss bill on long-term care

21. oktober 2017 ob 11.56 • Ljubljana - MMC RTV SLO, Televizija Slovenija

The bill on long-term care is finally prepared after a ten-year wait. Photo: Pixabay

The ministry of health has issued a panel discussion for the bill on long-term care, which proposes setting up a new system of care for the elderly who can no longer take care for themselves. The need for new legislation dates back to more than a decade ago, since according to some estimates around 60,000 Slovenians already require the service of long-term care.

The bill proposes a new compulsory insurance for long-term care. Everyone would pay 0.48 percent from their insurance base – pensioners would contribute from EUR 1.4 to 19.8 per month while the employed would pay from EUR 4.3 to 31.6 monthly.

Taxation will depend on monthly income. Employees with a gross salary of EUR 1,700 would pay eight euros per month while a pensioner who gets 500 euros monthly would contribute four euros. However, taxation options are still being discussed with the finance ministry. Despite tax, the bill also proposes additional payment, which means that in addition to tax users of long-term care services would still have to pay 30 percent of the price from their own pockets.

The ministry has defined five categories of rightful claimants to rank people who need help from those that need the least help (and belong to category 1) to those that completely depend on help (category 5). To achieve this classification, physical as well as mental capacities as well as needs would be estimated in the user’s home environment.