At its 3^rd extraordinary session on 20 July 2023, the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia (National Council) adopted a request for the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia to reconsider the Long Term Care Act, which was adopted by the National Assembly at its 42^nd extraordinary session on 17 July 2023. The National Council bases its request on the following grounds:

The National Assembly considered the Act under an urgent procedure. Because the Act addresses important, complex, multifaceted, and sensitive issues involving the provision of social security to individuals, the National Council finds that the issues and questions raised should be approached thoughtfully and with the utmost care and responsibility. From this perspective, it was neither justified nor appropriate for the reading of the proposed act to be carried out under an urgent procedure, since both social dialogue and solutions should be considered when formulating solutions in such an important area, and solutions should be formulated jointly, on the basis of the broadest possible social consensus. In the Council’s opinion, the fact that amendments to almost all articles of the proposed act have been adopted shows that the Act has not been sufficiently considered.

In its opinion on the request of the National Council, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia stressed that the new Long Term Care Act primarily addresses the shortcomings of the current Long Term Care Act, which not only did not fully regulate the field of long-term care, but was unenforceable, both substantively and procedurally, due to the failure to define the inclusion in the compulsory long-term care insurance scheme, the questionable status of the insured person, and, consequently, the acquisition of long-term care rights, as well as due to the untimely implementation of all the necessary activities, as pointed out by a number of stakeholders. A key area, the long-term financing of long-term care, also remains unresolved. In July 2022, an amendment to the Act was adopted, postponing the effective date to 1 January 2024, allowing additional time to prepare the necessary changes.

The new Long-Term Care Act addresses and regulates all the shortcomings of the previous act. Systemic regulation of long-term care concerns a large part of the population, has major financial implications, and also affects the other pillars of social security. Because the solutions regarding implementation provided for in the previous act could not be carried out to the extent and within the time frame foreseen due to their shortcomings and unenforceability, and because their implementation in 2024 and the untimely enforcement of the new Long Term Care Act would have irreversible consequences for the functioning of the State and the State budget, the adoption of a proposed act is necessary to prevent such consequences.

The Government proposes that the National Assembly reiterate its support for the Long Term Care Act.

Source: Ministry of Solidarity-Based Future