Document

Slovenia has one of the lowest levels of catastrophic health spending in Europe, thanks to its comprehensive publicly financed benefits and, until 2024, complementary voluntary health insurance (VHI) that protected people from co-payments. A major 2024 reform abolished most co-payments, replaced VHI premiums with a flat-rate contribution, and significantly reduced user charges, complexity, and administrative costs—offering important lessons for other countries. However, challenges remain, including heavy reliance on employment-based financing, long waiting times, regressivity of the flat-rate contribution, gaps in coverage for certain services and products, and incomplete population coverage.