​Some employees of health insurance companies stopped work for two hours on Monday morning and are protesting against “very low wages compared to the responsibility and complexity of the work performed, an alarming loss of qualified personnel and a sharp reduction in the total number of employees.”

On Monday morning, 20-30 employees gathered in front of the headquarters of the National Health Insurance Company in Bucharest to stop work and protest. Trade unions have announced protests at territorial buildings as well.

“The Federation of Trade Unions of Health Insurance Companies informs that on July 10, 2023, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., all employees of the National Health Insurance Company (CNAS) and Health Insurance Companies (CAS) of the County, Municipality of Bucharest and the House of Defense Health Insurance, Public Order, of national security and the judiciary are protesting, interrupting work for 2 hours. The main reason for the protest is very low salaries compared to the responsibility and complexity of the activities performed, an alarming loss of qualified personnel and a sharp reduction in the total number of employees at the national level in recent years. , more than 1,000 people out of a total of 4,000 people,” the press release of the trade unions says.

The unions claim that potential candidates are no longer attracted to job competitions from hospital insurance companies, because the salary has become extremely unmotivated, in relation to the huge amount of work.

“With several examples, we highlight the impressive amount of activity carried out annually in the CNAS/CAS system. Yes, approximately 8,500,000 medical certificates, 54,000,000 prescriptions and 5,700,000 laboratory vouchers are checked for settlement. 113,000,000 primary medical services, 37,000,000 outpatient consultations and 8,000,000 inpatient medical services are also provided. The National Health Program provides treatment for 2,000,000 seriously ill patients, and the budget managed by CNAS is 54 billion lei, the largest in the country in the public system. Under these conditions, in recent years, the number of occupied positions in the state health insurance system has decreased from 4,028 to only 2,815, due to very low salaries in relation to the volume, complexity and responsibility of the activity,” the trade unions said. say.

Failure to resolve these issues may lead, according to the trade unions, to the initiation of a labor conflict, which will have the following consequences:

• Non-payment of medical care by health care providers (hospitals, laboratories, etc.) will cause serious social tension due to non-payment of workers’ salaries, vacation vouchers, etc. and will jeopardize the continuity of treatment for the chronically ill, including for beneficiaries of national health care programs for which medicine is vital.

• Services provided by CAS staff, such as issuing forms, national/European cards, processing medical device applications and issuing certificates, will not be able to be provided.

• Requests for recovery of amounts representing medical leave submitted by employers will not be paid.

“We note that the employees of the national health insurance system are those who conclude contracts, approve, check and calculate the services provided by all providers of the national health care system. In this regard, we appeal to the authorities to immediately take measures to solve the reported problems. We want to find viable solutions and reintegrate the health insurance system with properly paid specialists so that we can continue to offer quality services to the public and provide decent living and working conditions for our employees,” the union representatives also say.