Ombudswoman Lora Vidović warned the Clinical Hospital Centre (KBC) Zagreb not to instigate enforcement procedures against citizens without giving them opportunities to pay invoices. She also emhasised it is neccessaryon to hand over invoices to patients personally after providing health service and, if not possible, to send them to their home addresses. Hence, before issuing an invoice it is necessary to check whether a patient has a valid additional health insurance policy while receiving health service.
Namely, according to the citizens’ complaints, the disputed invoices were not delivered to them neither during the health service nor afterwards thus, they did not know about them until they received the enforcement decision. In such a way, due to the foreseen proceedings the costs are being multiply increased.
KBC Zagreb does not check availability of the valid additional health insurance policy before issuing an invoice, but only upon the citizen’s complaint. This opens a question of illegal/unprofessional financial management since the consequences of such misconducts are being shifted to citizens who are not obliged to know the work of KBC, Croatian Health Insurance Institute and lawyers.
On the other hand, KBC Zagreb has a possibility to engage experts who know how to use legal recourse unlike the majority of citizens. They are mostly impoverished citizens with impaired health who, if they do not have money for a lawyer, shall not know how to defend themselves from unfounded enforcements. That is why it is especially important, having in mind inequality in status, to perform in accordance with principles of conscientious and fairness and charge the delivered health service only when it is appropriate and timely without causing additional expenses to citizens.
