The long-standing narrative that state hospitals pay extra for the alleged favoritism of private providers has definitely dissipated. The latest analysis by the Health Care Oversight Office (ÚDZS) has produced hard data that proves the exact opposite: state university hospitals are the best-paid entities in the entire system, while private ones get paid less for the same work.
The analysis of financing for the years 2024 and 2025, which the office published this week, compares the real payments of insurance companies with the so-called reference rate (CKS). This rate represents the fair price per unit of production that the state has set as a standard. The results refute the words of the leader of the Medical Trade Union (LOZ), Petr Visolajský, who repeatedly talks about the underfunding of state facilities. The portal drew attention to it let’s get well.
State hospitals as “winners” of funding
According to the ÚDZS report, university hospitals receive on average 17.8% more than they should according to the tables. In practice, this means that the state and insurance companies paid them EUR 94 million more than the set standard. For comparison:
- In addition, the Penta network (Penta Hospitals) receives only 8.5%.
- The AGEL network is at the level of +12.3%.
The difference in the price for one hospitalization is even more striking. While the university hospital collects an average of 4,002 euros per patient, the private Penta receives 3,324 euros, and hospitals under the administration of cities or regions even only 3,082 euros. The state thus pays its largest hospitals a fifth more than the private sector.
Paradox of loss with above-average incomes
The question remains why state hospitals despite massive overfinancing (a total of 161 million euros above the reference rate for the public sector), they still produce millions of debts. Expert audits from renowned companies such as PwC and Grant Thornton indicate that the problem is not a lack of money, but:
- Low efficiency and poor management processes.
- Overemployment in some components.
- A payment machine that does not distinguish between quality and average.
Insurance companies under scrutiny
For the first time, the analysis revealed the purchase policy of individual insurance companies in detail. Surprisingly, the state VšZP pays the most for Pente (a year-on-year increase of 8 percentage points), while the private Dôvera pays 5% more to state hospitals than to the hospitals of its own shareholder.
The Union insurance company appears to be the most disciplined, as it is the only one that consistently adheres to the reference rates and purchases health care the most efficiently (in the range from -2% to +5% of the norm).
Kultan: “The problem is in the kitchen, not in the refrigerator”
Martin Kultan, general director of Dôvera, also responded to the accusations of the trade unionists. According to him, claims of “unfavorable contracts” to force hospitals to limit operations are mathematical nonsense.
“If state hospitals only received what they are entitled to according to state rates, they would have to treat 13,000 more patients in 2025 in order to receive the same money we paid them today,” explains Kultan.
End of ideological games?
The published data leaves no room for interpretation. The narrative about the “sucking” of the state healthcare system by private individuals is not based on reality. If university hospitals make losses despite the highest payments in the system, the cause is not in the unfair setting of payments, but within their own structures. Any other claims about the underfunding of state giants at the expense of private individuals after April 23, 2026 can be considered pure ideology that ignores the official statistics of the ÚDZS.
