Mrsić: The Proposal of the Health Care Act Undermines the Foundations of Croatia as a Social State

Former SDP member and now independent Member of Parliament Mirando Mrsić assessed on Monday that the SDP’s policy towards the health system is thoughtless, unserious, and ineffective, and the statements of the leading figures of the SDP in this area indicate a complete disinterest of the SDP to think and propose measures that are primarily in the interest of citizens.

Although one would expect a social democratic party to stand up for the protection of the public health system in order to preserve the fundamental solidarity in our society, judging by the statements given to Hina by the president of the SDP Health Council, Danko Velimir Vrdoljak, it seems that the SDP has no problem with the measures announced in the Health Care Act by Minister of Health Milan Kujundžić, the HDZ, and the Government of Andrej Plenković, Mrsić points out.

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The former Minister of Labor and Pension System in the Government of Zoran Milanović states in a statement that by supporting the tycoonization of health care, the SDP is renouncing the social state as one of the foundations of social democracy.

He believes that the SDP’s thesis that “it is primarily necessary to solve problems in the hospital system in order to indirectly solve primary health care” is deeply misguided, as it is clear to anyone who truly advocates for the preservation of the public health system that primary health care is the foundation of a public and universally accessible health system, not hospital care.

The preventive system is based on primary health care, where basic health problems are addressed, not in hospitals, emphasizes Mrsić.

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It is clear that the SDP does not understand that the proposal of the Health Care Act undermines the foundations of Croatia as a social state, as in that case they would clearly condemn the HDZ’s intentions to ruin our health system through privatization, claims Mrsić.

It is obvious that the members of the SDP who stood at booths collecting signatures against the privatization of health care when previous HDZ governments tried to do so have been forgotten. “For years we have built and defended the public health system and we must not allow it to be privatized overnight,” warns Mrsić.