| Popis: |
Regulatory fees were launched by the Act No. 261/2007 Coll. on stabilization of public budget. Many acts were amended through this Act including the Act No. 48/1997 Coll. on public health insurance. This amendment set the obligation for the person insured or their legal representative to pay regulatory fees to the medical facility providing health care ? a practitioner, a medical facility or a pharmacy. The aim of this thesis was to summarize legal adjustment considering regulatory fees and to map citizens´ opinions of both this issue and regulatory character of fees. The author´s goal was to ascertain whether citizen´s opinions have changed in past five years since their implementation. Whether citizens became accustomed to the fees and if they understood their purpose or they would rather abolish them. Theoretical part explains the terms relating to health care and insurance industry where the particular regulatory fees are explained in detail, such as their amount and the range of people involved. The attention is paid even to cases of the regulatory fee exemption. Theoretical part also deals with the safety limit which is directly concerned with regulatory fees as well as it is explained which fees belong to this limit. The next subsection is concerned with the basic rules of providing health care in member states of the European Union. The theoretical part concludes with the description of the individual changes and amendments which regulatory fees underwent during 2008-2013. The practical part was created by the means of quantity research which was conducted through the questioning method. The questioning survey of 331 respondents among the public of South Bohemia was implemented through online questionnaire and the tangible forms. Three following hypotheses are defined on the basis of the secondary sources: Hypothesis 1: Respondents do not agree with the fee increases for a hospital stay from 60,- CZK to 100,- CZK. Hypothesis 2: From all the launched regulatory fees only the emergency service fee affects the use of health care. Hypothesis 3: Patients agree with the prescription charges. The hypotheses H1 and H3 were confirmed whereas H2 were proved false on the basis of the questionnaires. It was proved that 90,- CZK treatment fee in emergency service is not for the majority of people so high so that it would prevent them from using emergency service and therefore negatively affected the use of health care. On the contrary, it follows from the confirmed hypothesis that the cancellation of 30,-CZK fee for prescription item and the replacement for fee prescription as a whole was correct. As patients are more willing to pay a fee for prescription rather than pay for every item. The outcome of hypothesis 1 was virtually unequivocal for most of respondents do not agree with the fee increase for a one day of hospital stay. Research outcomes show the fact that in comparison with previous years not only does the acceptance of citizens about regulatory fee system gets better but also does their acceptance of citizens and citizens? willingness to pay them. There is always a group of people who are not satisfied with the current adjustment of regulatory fees. It also seems improbable to eliminate fees to affect personal and family budget. The important goals of Czech public health and responsible bodies are to set regulatory fees in the way to accomplish their regulatory objective as well as make sure fees do not limit the ability of people who end up in socially or otherwise difficult situation to use health care. The thesis may work well as an information booklet for the wide public, as a study material for the students of Health and Social Studies or as a source for comparison with future researches. |
