EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS

Prague, Czechia

EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS 2022

of medical insurance for foreigners, which would be administered by the Czech Insurers’ Bureau. The register would include selected data on the arranged commercial health insurance for foreigners, access to it would be granted to health care facilities and, if necessary, the police. Also, the proposal includes doubling the limit of health insurance for foreigners with long-term residence (at least 120,000 euros instead of today’s 60,000) (Senát podpořil zrušení monopolu [online], 2021). Furthermore, in the light of alternative solutions, we point out that it is unequivocally positive that the norm of the law indicates the tightening of requirements for commercial insurance companies in the form of service agreements with 10% of companies providing outpatient services and with 60% of companies providing services for acute cases recorded in the corresponding register. It should encourage companies to deliver better services, as well as to take their commitments more seriously. Summing up, alternative solutions have existed and still exist, so ousting other players from the market for providing health insurance services can be considered not only as violating European antitrust laws (distortion of conditions of competition on the EU market), but also as a disproportionate and unjustified action. 3.5 Consequences of violating Antitrust What is being violated today due to the changes analysed in the article? The list is long: freedom to provide services; fundamentals of competition (Art. 106(1) TFEU in the form of granting exclusive rights to PVZP and direct exclusion of other companies from the insurance market for foreigners without sufficient factual evidence; Art. 102(a) TFEU abuse of dominant position; Art. 4(3) TEU sincere cooperation and loyalty obligation; as well as Art. 107(1) TFEU in the form of prohibited state aid which distorts competition); unity of the EU internal market; as well as for migrants the right to freely choose a commercial insurance company; the right to equal and non-discriminatory treatment; the right to affordable health care; children’s rights. In that way, the Czech Republic makes us doubt the rule of law in its territory. The Czech Republic today is one of the strongest socially-oriented states. However, in the context of recent changes, the status of “social” can be called into question. Firstly, Czechs and foreigners with permanent residence can choose a mandatory public health insurance policy from 7 “public” insurance companies (state VZP and 6 professional/sectoral or “employee”, which provide healthcare under the Czech public health insurance system). On the other hand, all self-employed, unemployed and student migrants must pay for the sole, state assigned private insurance company. Secondly, many family members with long-term residence status may be forced to leave due to the inability to pay

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