Privatization of health sector in ex socialist states

Privatization of health care system in ex socialist states is one of the most controversial political and legal questions. On one part there is a widening discrepancy between the costs of health care system and the capability of public finances to cover these costs. On the other part there is a widening discrepancy between the users’ expectations and the technical and personal capability of health care system. So many governments in ex socialist countries see the privatization of health care system as a magical stick which will resolve all the problems. With privatization governments want to achieve following goals: - to improve the cost – benefit relation in health system; - to enlarge the citizens’ responsibility to live healthy; - to prevail the responsibility for the development of health system to private sector; - to liberate themselves from the political responsibility for malfunctioning health care system. Modern local governments are increasingly outsourcing to private firms for public service provision. Privatization is used as a solution where government programs are failing because private firms offer flexibility in program operation and management and are more adept at responding to changing circumstances than governmental entities. Governments also benefit from private partnerships by way of the resulting resources and personnel that become available for other uses. In this submission I’ll try to discuss about the problems of health care system’s privatization in ex socialist countries and about the necessary regulatory steps to be used for successful and citizens’ friendly privatization.