Parliament adopts Law on Health Insurance Fund and BASS for 2008

The Parliament on Friday, December 7, adopted in final reading the State Social Insurance Budget (BASS) and the Law on Mandatory Health Insurance Fund for 2008. The bills haven’t seen significant changes from the versions that passed first reading. BASS plans incomes of 6.25 billion lei, by 1.3 billion more than this year’s, and expenditure of 6.27 billion lei. Payments of state social insurance represent the basic source of incomes - 5.27 billion lei, increasing by 27.6%. The State Budget will provide BASS with 950 million lei, while the amount of non-fiscal incomes is expected to reach 23.2 million lei. The rest of the sum will represent fines and state taxes. The quantum of the state social insurance was maintained at the level of 29 percent of the monthly salary, yet the contributions are planned to be split differently between the employer and employee. The proposed formula is 24+5% employer/employee, as compared to 25+4% employer/employee used at present. For the persons working in the farm sector, the quantum was maintained at 20 percent, of which 16 are payable by the employer and 4 by the government. The quantum of the social insurance for self-employed persons rose from 2,318 lei in 2007 to 2,920 lei in 2008, while for owners of farmland – from 576 to 725 lei. The Law on Mandatory Health Insurance Fund fixes the price of the mandatory health insurance policy for 2008 at 1,893.6 lei, which is by over 50 percent higher than this year’s. The persons who will pay the insurance premium within three months from the date of the entry into force of the Law will pay just half of the price, that is 946.8 lei. The law also raises the insurance premium, expressed as a percentage of the monthly salary, from 5% to 6%. The sum will be equally split between the employer and employee.