Ljubljana - The general assembly of the public health insurer ZZZS has named Tatjana Mlakar, the head of the ZZZS unit in Krško, general manager pending clearance from the National Assembly. She had been nominated by the ZZZS management board in January following the third call for applications.

In her programme, Mlakar pointed to the effects of an ageing population, the development of increasingly expensive technologies and medicines, as well as to activities related to the planned reform of individual health insurance subsystems.

The system is based on legislation that is more than 25 years old and which has not been updated comprehensively, she said. With expected changes to several acts in the field, the ZZZS will have to be prepared for a system overhaul.

Mlakar said that effects of a new economic and health crisis are becoming apparent in Slovenia in macroeconomic terms. She believes this requires a change in approach in health insurance system operations, including the ZZZS, one of its subsystems.

She also said that the insurer's reserves accumulated in the past years would not suffice to cover an increase in expenses in the future because they had run dry in 2020. Therefore it is essential that health insurance subsystems are included in rational allocation and use of healthcare funds.

Mlakar also said the ZZZS would be a partner to healthcare service providers and pointed to the problem of long waiting periods, above all the quality of waiting list keeping.

The four-year term of current CEO Marjan Sušelj expires on 2 March. The general assembly, which convened online, decided today to appoint him acting director from 2 March until the appointment of a full-fledged boss, but for no longer than a year.

Sušelj also applied for the job in the third call for applications and so did former general manager and former Health Minister Samo Fakin.

Sušelj also applied in the first two calls for applications alongside several other candidates, none of whom received an okay from the management board.