Slovakia’s National Council has moved a medicines reimbursement bill to second reading, advancing a reform of public health insurance coverage for medicines, medical devices and dietetic foods. The measure addresses several contested elements of Slovak access policy, including exceptional reimbursement, categorisation timelines, transparency and access to generics and biosimilars.
The National Council of the Slovak Republic (Národná rada Slovenskej republiky, NRSR) said the amendment to the Act on the scope and conditions of reimbursement would increase access to treatment funded from public health insurance. It would also increase transparency in medicine categorisation and in reimbursement by exception, and make the categorisation process faster and more efficient.
The Slovak Television and Radio (Slovenská televízia a rozhlas, STVR) reported that the bill is intended to simplify and clarify exceptional reimbursement. That route has been criticised because insurer practice has not been uniform. STVR also reported that the final parliamentary decision is expected in September 2026, following further expert discussion.
The Public Defender of Rights (Verejný ochranca práv, VOP) had previously welcomed the government text. The VOP said the proposal responds to objections raised before the Constitutional Court by giving exceptional reimbursement clearer legal criteria, separating it from discretionary insurer benefits, setting new timelines for categorisation proceedings and requiring insurers to provide the ministry with anonymised data on positive and negative exceptional-reimbursement decisions.
The reform also sits against a wider expenditure and access debate. Slovakia’s Ministry of Finance published a medicines expenditure review in February 2026, highlighting pressure around innovative medicine access, exceptional reimbursement and cost-effectiveness. The parliamentary process now gives those issues a legislative route.
If the core text is retained, Slovakia would move towards a more rules-based exceptional-reimbursement model while tightening the interface with standard categorisation. That should increase procedural predictability, although the final balance between access, evidence requirements and budget exposure will depend on the September parliamentary decision.
Source: National Council of the Slovak Republic; Slovak Television and Radio; Public Defender of Rights
Link:
NRSR: Poslanci posunuli do 2. čítania novelu liekovej politiky (National Council: MPs moved the medicines policy amendment to second reading);
Poslanci posunuli liekovú reformu do druhého čítania. Novela má zjednodušiť spôsob preplácania liekov na výnimku (MPs moved the medicines reform to second reading. The amendment is intended to simplify the reimbursement of medicines by exception);
Novela zákona o rozsahu a podmienkach úhrady liekov zohľadňuje mnou napadnuté výhrady na ústavnom súde. Preto apelujem na poslancov, aby zachovali kompromisný a vyvážený text v prospech pacienta (The amendment to the Act on the scope and conditions of reimbursement of medicines reflects objections I challenged before the Constitutional Court. I therefore urge MPs to preserve a compromise and balanced text in patients’ interests)
Date: 10 June 2026; 9 June 2026; 2 June 2026
