Health contributions paid by employers will increase under a new draft law on health, which will be up for parliamentary approval in September. The employer contribution amount cannot be less than 5.2 percent of average national gross salary, monthly, per employee, according to the new law.

The law imposes a contribution rate calculated from an average monthly wage of RON 2117, or around EUR 468 , regardless of the employee's actual salary. Thus, in the case of all wages below RON 2117, employers will be obliged to pay more than they do now.

Compared with the health contributions paid in other European countries, Romanian companies pay a relatively small amount. In Germany the rate is 14.9 percent, 13.5 percent in the Czech Republic, while in Hungary the rate is 14 percent. In Romania, health insurance contributions were reduced in 2008, before parliamentary elections, when they fell from 14 percent of gross wage to 10.7 percent today.

Romania currently allocates the least to health per capita in Europe. Health expenditure per capita has declined in recent years, from EUR 353 per person in 2008 to EUR 310 between 2009 and 2012.

Ioana Toader, Ioana.toader@romania-insider.com

photo source: Sxc.hu