According to NFZ statistics gathered in a report by the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) auditing firm, the Opole, Podkarpackie and Silesia regions contribute 621 zloty (147 euros) per pensioner each year. However, in the Lodz region of central Poland, and in the north eastern Podlaskie region, funds channelled towards healthcare for pensioners are half that level.

Poland is experiencing a growing demographic imbalance, with the ratio of workers to pensioners expected to go from 3:1 to 2:1 by 2040. In 2012, Poland’s lower house of parliament passed a bill that will gradually raise the age of retirement to 67 for both sexes (from 65 for men and 60 for women). However, critics argue that health programmes for pensioners remain inconsistent.

In this regard, Minister of Labour Wladyslaw Marcin Kosiniak-Kamysz is due to announce details concerning a programme for pensioners’ healthcare at the forthcoming Congress on the Health of the Ageing. “Such a strategy is very much needed,” health specialist Robert Moldach told the Puls Biznesu daily. “Programmes carried out at present are nor coordinated,” he said