NordenBladet —
25 members of the Riigikogu supported the vote of no confidence in the Minister. At least 51 votes would have been needed to express no confidence.
Martin Helme, who represented the initiators of the motion of no confidence, justified the motion first by pointing to the Estonian Health Insurance Fund’s glamorous summer retreat. According to him, no one has assumed political responsibility for organising that. “Yes, the Head of the Health Insurance Fund resigned, but the Minister distanced herself from the whole issue and thought that if her subordinate had already been dismissed, that was enough. Actually it is not enough,” he said.
Helme also said that it was irresponsible of the Minister to turn her back on the social sphere. “When Minister Joller took office, she said that she would focus solely on healthcare issues in her work, leaving the rest of her responsibilities, that is, the social sphere, to be handled by officials. This is not the way to run a ministry,” he said.
One of the reasons Helme mentioned was also the fact that the healthcare system was constantly lacking money and operated on reserves, but those reserves were running out. “Unfortunately, Minister Joller has not taken any steps to solve the problem. The budget deficit is just getting worse. The Minister’s passivity only serves the interests of private medicine, which is getting richer by grabbing the taxpayers’ money,” he said. Helme also criticized Joller for calling the US Secretary of Health a quack, thereby damaging bilateral relations and Estonia’s reputation in the world.
Joller said before the Riigikogu that she did not consider herself to be such a capable person that she would be able to “botch up” the entire Health Insurance Fund budget in just a few months. “I became minister precisely because of these problems, and I plan to go ahead and solve them,” she claimed.
Speaking of the summer retreat and the luxurious office of the Health Insurance Fund, the Minister said that it had also offended her sense of justice. “However, I can say that the Health Insurance Fund’s summer retreat is only a symptom that characterizes the spending of money in the entire sector,” the Minister pointed out. She added that the Health Insurance Fund had received around a billion euro over the past five years, though it remained unclear where exactly that money had gone. “But I have already started with these changes.”
Joller noted that although she had to focus on health care issues as a minister, social and population policy had not been less important for her. “I think that these two spheres have taken up more of my time and energy than the health issues. I have thoroughly acquainted myself with both fields,” she said, and pointed out that she had brought to the government the need to increase subsistence benefits, signed a regulation that decoupled technical aids from the diagnosing of disability, dealt with issues related to assessing the severity of disabilities, and made preparations for improving the interaction between the health and social sectors.
Joller underlined that changes did not take place overnight. “Whatever we start today cannot be completed quickly, because the medical system is large. For me, it is important that funding is transparent and that Estonian people receive help at the right time, with the right quality, and in the right place. Each euro the tax payers pay, that the Estonian people pay and entrust to the Estonian state, should be used for the benefit of the people,” she said.
In her speech, the Minister also rejected the claim that she had insulted the US Secretary of Health.
During the debate, Lauri Laats Estonian Centre Party Parliamentary Group, Mart Helme from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Group and Urmas Reinsalu from Isamaa Parliamentary Group took the floor. Tanel Kiik took the floor on behalf of the Social Democratic Party Group.
Photos (Erik Peinar / Chancellery of the Riigikogu)
Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
karin.kangro@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee
Link uudisele: The Riigikogu did not support the vote of no confidence in Minister of Social Affairs Karmen Joller
Source: Parliament of Estonia