Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

Medical Care and Sickness Benefits Convention, 1969 (No. 130) - Slovakia (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It has nevertheless examined the applicable legislation, and particularly Act No. 54 of 1956 on sickness insurance, Act No. 273 of 1994 on health insurance, Act No. 277 of 1994 on health care, and Act No. 98 of 1995 establishing rules respecting medical care. In order to be able to assess in full the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice, the Committee trusts that the Government will not fail to provide full particulars in its next report on the following points.

Part II (Medical care) and Part III (Sickness benefit). Articles 10 and 19 (in relation to Article 5) of the Convention. (Scope of application.) The Committee requests the Government to indicate to which of the subparagraphs of Articles 10 and 19 it intends to have recourse with regard to the scope of application of the medical care and sickness benefit branches. In the event that the Government intends to have recourse for one and/or other of these contingencies to subparagraph (a) of Articles 10 and 19 of the Convention, the Committee wishes to draw its attention to the derogations authorized by Article 5 of the Convention.

Furthermore, the Committee requests the Government to provide all the statistics requested in the report form under Articles 10 and 19, point 3 and/or under Article 5, point 2, according to the provisions to which it has recourse.

Part II (Medical care), Article 13 (Nature of the care). As the Committee only has partial translations of Acts Nos. 273 of 1994 and 98 of 1995 at its disposal, it requests the Government to indicate the manner in which effect is given to Article 13(e) respecting dental care, with an indication of the applicable legal provisions.

Article 17. (Sharing in the cost of medical care). Please indicate the rules applicable to the sharing by persons protected in the cost of medical care with regard to prosthetic and orthopaedic appliances.

Part III (Sickness benefit), Article 21 (in relation to Article 22). Please supply statistical information on the amount of sickness benefit as requested in the report form under Article 22 of the Convention, Titles I and II. The Committee emphasizes the need to be provided with this information since, under the Slovak system, sickness benefit is based on the previous earnings of the person protected, which are subject to a ceiling. It draws the Government’s attention in this respect to Article 22, paragraph 3, which provides that, in such cases, the maximum limit must be fixed in such a way that the provisions relating to the amount of the benefit are complied with where the previous earnings of the beneficiary are equal to or lower than the wage of a skilled manual male employee. For the determination of a skilled manual male employee, the Government may wish to refer to Article 22, paragraph 6(d), which states that he may be a person whose earnings are equal to 125 per cent of the average earnings of all the persons protected.

Article 26. (Duration of sickness benefit). The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the implementation in practice of section 15(5) of Act No. 54 of 1956 on employees’ sickness insurance, so as to confirm that the duration of sickness benefit remains in conformity with the provisions of Article 26, paragraph 1, of the Convention, by virtue of which the grant of benefit may not be less than 52 weeks in each case of incapacity, even where a new case of incapacity occurs within the period of one year envisaged in section 15(4) of the above Act.

Article 27 (Funeral expenses). The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide up-to-date information on the funeral allowance provided under Act No. 238 of 1998, with an indication of its amount. Please also indicate whether the amount of this benefit is sufficient in relation to the real cost of funerals.

Part IV (Common provisions), Article 29 (Right of appeal). Please provide information on the appeal procedures available to complainants with regard to both medical care and sickness benefit in the case of their refusal or complaints.

Article 31 (Representation of the persons protected in the administration of the scheme). The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information on the manner in which the representation of the persons protected is ensured in the administration of funds other than the General Sickness Insurance Fund, with an indication of the applicable provisions.

Article 32. Please provide information on the implementation in practice of section 12 of Act No. 277 of 1994 on medical care, taking into account Article 32 of the Convention, which provides that each Member shall, within its territory, assure to non-nationals who normally reside or work there equality of treatment with its own nationals as regards the right to benefits.

As the communication of certain information, and particularly statistics on the amount of sickness benefit, may prove to be relatively complex, the Committee wishes to remind the Government of the possibility of having recourse to the technical assistance of the Office in this respect.