| The Republic of Slovenia is a parliamentary democratic republic with 2 million people. Slovenia joined the European Union and NATO in 2004, and the Eurozone in 2007. Slovenia has a strong economy and a stable democracy, and the country scores relatively high on equality parameters. Slovenia is parted into 211 municipalities with local autonomy, and 62 administrative districts. The districts function as sub-units of government administration. Regional differences in wealth are pronounced with large gaps between the east and the west. Via compulsory health insurance all Slovenians are entitled to medical treatment, along with some financial benefits, such as sick leave. Already in 1999, a national health insurance card system was introduced, which links healthcare providers with health insurance providers.
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| The Ministry of Health has particular policies relating to health inequalities, and has set aside a financial budget solely for this purpose. With this budget, there is an annual tender issued for projects tackling this issue. Two main policies are the “Strategy to Tackle Health Inequalities” and the “Health Promotion Strategy and Action Plan for Tackling Health Inequalities in Pomurje”. The latter policy is a regional strategy that was developed in 2005 as a response to the poor social, economic and health rankings in the region of Pomurje. Based on the experiences gained in this region, the Ministry of Health prioritized the development of a national strategy to deal with regional health inequalities in 2006. The Institute of Public Health Murska Sobota was appointed in 2007 as the responsible institution to prepare the national strategy. There are currently two important developments that may put health inequalities higher on the political agenda, and make it easier for stakeholders to advocate for the issue. Firstly a recent report on health inequalities in Slovenia, which for the first time linked health and access parameters to social economic status and thus took the broader determinants into account. Secondly, a new National Development Plan (2012 – 2020) is on the way, in which there will be a chapter devoted to health equity in Slovenia. Slovenia is also currently preparing a Mental Health Act, in order to regulate the health care and social security for the mentally ill. The Slovenia Ministry of Health use Health Impact Assessment and cross-sectoral policy development as tools to address health inequalities. These efforts also take on a cross-governmental character, as a broad range of governmental policies has recognized the importance of social determinants of health inequalities. These include the labor market and fair wage policy, the social protection policy, the social inclusion policy, the pension policy, the balanced regional development policy, the fiscal expenditure policy and the housing policy. An overview of policy responses addressing health inequalities in can be found in our Policy Database. |
Slovenia
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