REFORMING HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES IN POLAND - An overview

Abstract

The transformations taking place in Poland aim, among others, at adapting the system to new conditions of a market economy. The irrationality of funding social services by the budget made it necessary to restrict the role played by the State in their funding. It means the need for changes concerning not only institutional reforms but also new sources of income. The goal of this paper is to present the main directions of reforms occurring in the Polish economy on the example of health care. The paper concentrates on the problems of implementation, the reform in health care, its reasons and consequences. The trends indicate that the process of reforms is going in the direction of developing new methods and forms of funding and reducing the share of budgetary funds in the funding of social services. The state responsible for the reforms makes an attempt to create appropriate legal and organizational conditions for the question of institutions providing social services.