In 2009, following the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States, the American public entered into a fierce debate on how to reform its health care system. The intense debate on health care reform, however, is not a new phenomenon in American political life. Debate over health care has cycled its way into the American political discourse every twenty-years or so. History suggests that forceful opposition has prevailed against most major efforts to alter the health system in the United States. Yet, once again the Democratically-controlled Congress and Presidency in the United States aspire to break this cycle of history. With both houses in Congress passing a bill with significant reforms, it seems that this time may be different. While it is very likely some reforms will pass in 2010, no law has been signed yet56. In the end, only time will dictate the outcome of this round of health reform debates. Through a thorough literature review, this article provides the Polish reader a sense of health care reform efforts in the U.S. from the historical perspective and discusses the current proposed reforms. Particular attention is paid to the evolution of the American health insurance system, failed efforts of past health reform initiatives, their contrast with today's efforts, and current health and economic indicators that could lead to reform in 2010.
This article presents a critical analysis of insurance fraud with a legal comparative perspective. In the author's opinion, it is beyond doubt that the Polish solution needs change. Nonetheless, the scope of this change may vary. A look at this type of prohibited act regulated in foreign legal systems may be helpful in formulating conclusions for the Polish law as it stands and proposals for the law as it should stand. Considering the above, part one of this article focuses on the legal-dogmatic analysis of the crime under Article 298 § 1 of the Polish Penal Code, and its counterparts in the subsidiary model (i.e., in Germany, Austria and Finland). A detailed study precedes the process of modelling the liability for the commission of an insurance fraud, taking into account the specificity of economic crime and the various approaches taken by European legislatures, while preliminary conclusions resulting from the analyses carried out have been formulated in the summary. However, it should be pointed out at this point that the presentation of the final conclusions will take place after the discussion regarding the independent model, which will be presented in part two of the article. ; Niniejszy artykuł zawiera krytyczną analizę oszustwa ubezpieczeniowego przy wykorzystaniu ujęcia komparatystycznego. W ocenie autora nie ulega wątpliwości, że polskie rozwiązanie wymaga zmian. Różny może być jednak ich zakres. Pomocna w formułowaniu wniosków de lege lata oraz postulatów de lege ferenda może być optyka na ten typ czynu zabronionego w obcych porządkach prawnych. W związku z powyższym w części pierwszej skupiono się na analizie dogmatycznej przestępstwa z art. 298 § 1 Kodeksu karnego oraz na jego odpowiednikach w subsydiarnym modelu w Niemczech, Austrii i Finlandii. Szczegółowy wywód poprzedza proces modelowania odpowiedzialności za realizację oszustwa asekuracyjnego, uwzględniający specyfikę przestępczości gospodarczej oraz różnorodne podejścia ustawodawców europejskich. W podsumowaniu pokuszono się o sformułowanie wstępnych wniosków, wynikających z przeprowadzonych analiz. W tym miejscu należy podkreślić, że finalne konkluzje zostaną zamieszczone w drugiej części opracowania, po uwzględnieniu rozważań dotyczących modelu samoistnego.
This article is a comparative analysis of the legal nature and the rights and obligations of parties concluding property insurance contracts under the provisions of the Maritime Code and the Civil Code. When navigating a ship, the shipowner conducts a business commonly referred to as the operation of a ship, which includes, inter alia, its use for business purposes. The shipowner business is therefore an economic activity and the owner is the entrepreneur who runs his business which s/he is liable for. It is his/her broad interest to insure permanent assets of his/her company against damage as well as his/her civil liability. As the text indicates, s/he is treated by the legislature more severely than a person conducting a standard property insurance. In addition, the legal nature of the policy, due to the requirements of maritime traffic, differs from that from the Civil Code. The purpose of this study is to identify the key differences between the two regulations.
Public funds should play important role in rationalization of the social security system as they allow greater control over expenses redistribution and thus over changes in society. However, as the rule of parainsurance is not followed while creating public funds, one cannot hope for public support for fiscal burdens and for diminishing political influence on the tax collection for social expenses and social expenses itself. The lack of public support should not limit possibilities of using public funds to rationalize public finances, particularly social security.
This paper addresses the issues related to legal protection of farmers' incomes in the context of the need for income stabilization in view of agricultural risks. The volatility of agriculture becomes increasingly important in economic, social and political terms. This is recognized by multiple authorities, including the Union legislator, as reflected in amendments to legislative acts. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to identify the direction in which the basic subsidized Union instruments for agricultural risk management evolve. This means in particular determining the trends followed by these instruments and assessing their attractiveness to agricultural producers. The new legal solutions seem to be more beneficial to agricultural producers as they tend to smooth over the negative impacts of production risk, in respect both to losses and incomes. However, their proper functioning continues to be hampered by the precise determination of farm incomes. ; Artykuł odnosi się do problematyki związanej z prawną ochroną dochodów rolników w kontekście potrzeby stabilizacji dochodów w związku z występowaniem ryzyka w rolnictwie. Zmienność rolnictwa nabiera coraz większego znaczenia ekonomicznego, społecznego i politycznego. Dostrzegł to m.in. prawodawca unijny, co znalazło wyraz w modyfikowanych aktach normatywnych. Celem opracowania było wskazanie kierunków zmian podstawowych dotowanych ze środków unijnych instrumentów zarządzania ryzykiem w rolnictwie. Chodzi w szczególności o określenie tendencji zmian tych instrumentów i ich ocenę w aspekcie atrakcyjności z punktu widzenia producentów rolnych. Stwierdzono, że nowe rozwiązania prawne wydają się bardziej korzystne dla producentów rolnych, ponieważ w większym stopniu niwelują negatywne skutki ryzyka w produkcji w odniesieniu zarówno do strat, jak i dochodów. Kwestią nadal niesprzyjającą ich właściwemu funkcjonowaniu jest precyzyjne ustalanie dochodów gospodarstw rolnych.
During the discussion, the panellists analyzed several main issues: I. The role of the family and public institutions in long-term care. II. System solutions in the policy of supporting carers of dependent people. III. The method of financing care for elderly dependent people (including the role of social insurance). IV. The ability to provide care to dependent people and public expenditure on it, forms of support for carers. V. The role of the market in providing care and state activities. Outsourcing of carers of dependent people. Relationship between bottom-up actions and top-down actions taken by central authorities. VI. Reconciling the role of a caregiver with work on the free market.
Health insurance expenditures on drug refunds in 2004-2012Drug expenditures in each country account for a large share in total health expenditures. Hence experts, media and societies are becoming very interested in the drug policy in their country, where one of the important components is reimbursement/refund policy. Good governance in the drug sector means not only taking up allocation, redistribution and stabilization tasks that belong to the government, but also taking into consideration differences in interests of different stakeholders on the drug market. If it is disregarded, even ideal theoretical solutions will not work in market reality. This article presents and comments basic facts on development of universal health insurance expenditures on drug refund in the last 13 years in Poland, especially in 2012 after implementation of the new bill on refund policy. This law led to a dramatic decrease in drug refund cost share in total expenditures of the National Health Fund (Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia, NFZ) from 15% in 2011 to 11.2% in 2012. Still the share of drug refund has already had a decreasing tendency in NFZ expenditures starting from 2005. Available data contradict suspicions that savings on drug refunds in NFZ has led to an increase in patients' health expenditures on prescription drugs. Costs of substitutive full-price drugs (equivalents for refunded ones) bought by Polish patients in 2012 increased only by 650 mln PLN, while NFZ's refund expenditures decreased by almost 2 billion PLN, and patients' copayment in the case of refunded drugs dropped by one billion PLN. However, drug consumption was reduced. Conducted analysis also showed a systematic, and positive for patients, growth in the share of almost fully refunded drugs – drugs with low fixed copayments (from 49% in 2004 to almost 65% in 2012) and lower 30% patients' copayment in NFZ refunds. Which in fact is in contradiction with the common opinion that NFZ is running a policy of shifting more drug costs on patients. What is concerning are regional discrepancies (between regional – voievodship branches) in refund expenditures per insured person (the difference between the highest and lowest is 49 PLN – 28%).
The article is devoted to a critical review of the European Parliament Resolution of February 16, 2017 on the regulations in the field of robotics. The authors analyze the approaches of the creators of the law in terms of perception of autonomous robots as subjects of law and pay attention to the legal liability for damage caused by robots. The authors conclude that the concept of robots as the subject of law and the possibility of endowing robots with artificial intelligence with the qualities of a legal or electronic entity are arguable. First of all, the legal personality of robots raises the problem of responsibility and protection of the rights of potential victims. The resolution of the European Parliament emphasizes the need for such a legal structure that will ensure the harmonization of the interests of developers and sellers of autonomous robots, users and victims – the imposition of liability on the manufacturer or liability insurance.
Seven drafts of the constitution submitted to the Polish Sejm by political parties have been analyzed and compared within the scope of regulations concerning the economic organization of the society: property rights, freedom of economic activity and its limitations, social security, state budget and debt, etc. Though advanced by groups of different or even (seemingly) opposite political orientations, the drafts do not differ much, all of them presenting a vision of a rather liberal state with the possibility of state intervention, in case it is necessary to protect "the public good". Most important differences may be noticed in the area of social insurance, education and health service. It is, however, often difficult to state decisively what the differences between the drafts consist in. All the drafts have been written in a very general language. It is only the future legislation which will determine the shape of the economic system of the state, and will interpret the still vague regulations of the constitution, the final version of which will certainly be a compromise between the submitted drafts. ; Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/2016
Wstęp. Obecna koncepcja niepełnosprawności zakłada, że stopień niepełnosprawności jest wypadkową stanu zdrowia fizycznego i psychicznego oraz warunków środowiskowych, w których żyje osoba niepełnosprawna. Dlatego również na społeczeństwie spoczywa odpowiedzialność za taką modyfikację środowiska, aby poprawie uległy warunki uczestnictwa i aktywności osób niepełnosprawnych w życiu społecznym i zawodowym. Cel. Celem pracy jest przedstawienie problematyki rehabilitacji osób niepełnosprawnych i kwestii związanych z ich zatrudnieniem. Materiał i metoda. Oparto się na danych opublikowanych przez Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych (ZUS), Kasę Rolniczego Ubezpieczenia Społecznego (KRUS) i Państwowy Fundusz Rehabilitacji Osób Niepełnosprawnych (PFRON), biuro Pełnomocnika Rządu ds. Osób Niepełnosprawnych oraz na wynikach Narodowego Spisu Powszechnego Ludności i Mieszkań przeprowadzonego w Polsce w 2011 roku. Przeanalizowano ponadto akty prawa krajowego i międzynarodowego z ostatnich kilkunastu lat. Wyniki: W 2013 roku w Polsce rentę z tytułu niezdolności do pracy pobierało 1 075 000 osób., zaś rentę z tytułu niezdolności do pracy w gospodarstwie rolnym otrzymywały 216 373 osoby. Według Badania Aktywności Ekonomicznej Ludności Polski (BAEL) w 2013 roku aktywnych zawodowo było 27,3% osób niepełnosprawnych w wieku produkcyjnym. Istotne znaczenie ma zapewnienie osobom niepełnosprawnym zdobycia lub utrzymania zatrudnienia, a więc możliwie pełnej integracji społecznej. Wydane na ten cel pieniądze są inwestycją, która się zwraca, a nawet daje korzyści społeczne i ekonomiczne. Podsumowanie, Konieczne jest holistyczne podejście i koordynacja całego procesu leczenia, rehabilitacji i zatrudnienia osób niepełnosprawnych uwzględniające współodpowiedzialność pracodawcy, połączenie usług medycznych, społecznych i zawodowych, odpowiednie doradztwo, zastosowanie modelu biopsychospołecznego (ICF) w ocenie efektów rehabilitacji osób niepełnosprawnych. ; Introduction. According to the current concept of disability the degree of impairment is a product of physical and psychological health as well as environmental conditions in which a disabled person lives. Therefore, it is also the society that is responsible for modifying the environment so as to improve the conditions of participation and activity of the disabled persons in social and professional life. Objective. The objective of this work is to present the problem of rehabilitation of persons with disabilities and issues related to their employment. Materials and method: The work is based on data published by ZUS (the Polish Social Insurance Institution), KRUS (the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund), PFRON (the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disables Persons), Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Disabled People and on the results of the 2011 Polish Census of Population and Housing. Also acts of Polish and international law from the last dozen of years have been analysed. Results. In 2013 in Poland, 1 075 000 people received the inability to work benefit and 216 373 persons received the benefit related to inability to work on a farm. According to the Polish Research on Economic Activity of the Population (BAEL), 27.3% of disabled persons in the working age led an active professional life in 2013. It is crucial to ensure that the disabled persons access or maintain employment and thus to provide for their largest possible social inclusion. The expenses on this are an investment that pays back and even generates social and economic profits. Conclusion. It is necessary to adopt a holistic approach and to coordinate the entire process of treatment, rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities, taking into account employer's co-responsibility, combination of medical, social and vocational services, appropriate counselling and application of a biopsychosocial model (ICF) in evaluating the effects of rehabilitation of the disabled persons.
