Final decision. President Andrzej Duda has decided what to do with the reduction of health insurance contributions

• President Andrzej Duda decided to submit the act with a motion for its reconsideration by the Sejm, i.e. to veto the act.
• The bill will now return to the Sejm, where a three-fifths majority is needed to reject it.
• Justifying the president's decision, the head of his office, Małgorzata Paprocka, pointed out, among other things, that the act raises very serious doubts in the field of social justice and is contrary to constitutional principles. She also drew attention to the lack of social consultations
• The day before, the president met with representatives of the Social Dialogue Council on this matter.

President Andrzej Duda refused to sign the act on healthcare services financed from public funds and referred the act to the Sejm for reconsideration.

The decision was announced by the head of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, Małgorzata Paprocka. Asked why Andrzej Duda made the decision so late, she recalled that he had until May 15 to do so.

The bill will now return to the Sejm, where a three-fifths majority is needed to reject it. It is unlikely to be accepted given the current balance of power in parliament.

Justifying the president's decision, Paprocka pointed out, among other things, that the act raises very serious doubts in terms of social justice and is contrary to constitutional principles. She also pointed to the lack of social consultations.

- It is impossible to introduce such significant changes, resulting in such serious financial consequences for every citizen, without consulting the social side - she explained.

- I want to strongly emphasize that the president is open to discussion on correcting the way in which entrepreneurs pay health insurance contributions, but such changes, any changes in such a crucial area for the entire society, must take place in accordance with the requirements of the constitution - she said.

The day before, the president met with representatives of the Social Dialogue Council on this matter.

- There were various voices from the floor, on the side of RDS, the one representing the employees, a clear voice for the president not to sign this act. The opinions among employers were more divided, but everyone pointed out that the act was passed without any social consultations. This is an absolutely unacceptable issue in a democratic state of law - emphasized the head of the president's office.

She pointed out that once again the president "is replacing the government in this respect, patronizing social dialogue". - But at the stage when the act is already awaiting the president's decision, it is too late to introduce amendments to it. Social dialogue and achieving social consensus should take place at the stage of drafting the act . This was missing here. All representatives of the Social Dialogue Council drew attention to this element - she added.

The head of the office also reminded, among other things, that the financial plan of the National Health Fund has not yet been signed, and experts point to a potential lack of liquidity of the Fund in the second half of this year and the lack of possibilities of financing healthcare services on an ongoing basis. - And to address all these problems, the government, and then part of the current parliamentary majority, is presenting an act, the effect of which is to reduce revenues to the National Health Fund by at least PLN 5 billion per year. These are very calm calculations, because potentially this amount will be higher in the following years - she said.

- At the same time, and this is very important, the act does not indicate any strong, tough, unambiguous way of covering this deficit in the National Health Fund - she added.

Paprocka emphasized that in the current demographic situation, when we are an ageing society, expenditure on healthcare services should be increased. - At the same time, apart from demographic issues, we are observing the development of medical sciences. (...) There is the issue of strengthening the National Health Fund. This act is a step in exactly the opposite direction - she assessed.

In her opinion, it should be noted in this context that "for obvious reasons, the queues for doctors and specialists will grow along with the reduction of the National Health Fund budget". - But at this point, thinking about the policy of Andrzej Duda as president, but previously also a minister in the government of the late Lech Kaczyński, we must ask whether this is also a path to the potential privatization of hospitals, which the president has never agreed to and will certainly not agree to such actions until the last day of his term - she assured.

Another objection to the act is the issue of constitutional principles that shape public taxes and the issue of financing healthcare services. - We are talking about justice, equality, universality. This act in this respect also raises very serious doubts - assessed Małgorzata Paprocka.

As she calculated, an entrepreneur earning an income of less than PLN 13,000 would pay a lower health insurance contribution than an employee earning the minimum wage if this act came into force on January 1, 2026. The situation would be identical for retirees : a retiree earning a pension of PLN 3.9 thousand would also pay a higher contribution than an entrepreneur earning an income of less than PLN 13 thousand. Paprocka emphasized that the "glaring disproportion between employees and entrepreneurs" increases with the amount of income, so that at the level of PLN 8,000 of remuneration for work and the entrepreneur's income, a situation would arise in which an employee employed under an employment contract would pay a health insurance contribution twice as high as the entrepreneur.

- The last element: in addition to reducing revenues to the National Health Fund, this act, by promoting the transition from employment contracts to so-called self-employment, could potentially have very serious consequences on revenues to the Social Insurance Fund, from which ZUS pays pensions and retirement benefits - she concluded.

Małgorzata Paprocka announced that in response to the demands for a discussion on the financing of benefits, the president decided to once again invite the Social Dialogue Council, together with experts from the Healthcare Council and the Social Affairs Council of the National Development Council, to hold such a forum at the Presidential Palace.

Let us recall that the reduction of health insurance contributions for entrepreneurs was adopted by the Sejm on April 4 by the votes of KO, Poland 2050-TD and PSL-TD. PiS, Lewica and Razem MPs were against. Konfederacja abstained from voting.

The amendment assumes the introduction of a two-element health insurance contribution base for entrepreneurs from 2026 - up to a certain level it would be a flat-rate, and from the surplus of income - a percentage. Changes concerning 2.5 million entrepreneurs are to cost the state budget about PLN 4.6 billion. According to the government, this is compensation for reduced revenues from the health insurance contribution. The loss for the National Health Fund's finances is about PLN 6 billion.

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