Pecenka: insurer should take 3 -5 billion crown loan

Antonin Pecenka, the man in charge of the forced administration of the country's largest state-owned health insurance company, the VZP, has said the insurer should take up a 5 billion crown loan (the equivalent of almost 211 million US dollars). Mr Pecenka made the statement on a Sunday TV debate programme, suggesting that taking such a loan was one way the troubled insurer could eventually recover. Until now, the insurer has been reeling from significant debt, issuing late payments to doctors and other health workers, prompting the threat of strikes.

But, on Sunday, on the same television programme, the outgoing head of the VZP, Jirina Musilkova, said she opposed the organisation taking on the loan, stressing there was no way the firm could guarantee liability.

Author: Jan Velinger