Steven N.Specialist nurses continue to be underpaid, and 77% of them use the recently-overhauled KATA simplified tax system, according to a survey conducted by a nursing interest association and reported on by rtl.hu. If nurses lose this option and leave the profession, it could cause serious problems with providing care in Hungary.
The recent wage raises for health care workers left out specialist nurses, and their already low remuneration has not been increased since 2017. Moreover, starting in September KATA won’t be a viable option for many of them either, as they won’t be able to bill companies after the changes to the popular tax scheme kick in. As it is, home care is a barely sustainable profession, says the association.
There may be serious problems if nurses have to resign, stated Miklós Lukács, President of the Hungarian Hospice-Palliative Association. It will cause widescale human resource and capacity problems as well as difficulties providing care, which the home care sector is already struggling with.
Nearly 70% of doctors in Budapest are affected by the KATA changes, according to the Hungarian Medical Chamber, and half of them feel that their jobs are in danger. The Chamber believes that if the KATA law stays as it is, some types of health care services may be threatened. [444]
