Is medical insurance, along with other rights, being terminated for Croatians while migrants have them for free? No, that's not true: In Croatia, medical insurance is mandatory for all residents and foreigners with approved residence.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok by @kinginvictus33 on January 10, 2024, under the title (translated from Croatian to English by Lead Stories staff) "Kinginvictus 10.01.2024 MIGRANTS IN CROATIA." It opened (as translated):
10.01.2024
THIS YEAR A.P. HAS A QUOTA [the initials of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković]
- TO IMPORT 500 000 'WORKERS'
- THEY HAVE EVERYTHING ENABLED FOR THEM
- CROATIAN PEOPLE ARE RELOCATING
- MEDICAL INSURANCE AND OTHER RIGHTS ARE BEING TERMINATED FOR THEM
- SETTLERS HAVE EVERYTHING
- DO I HAVE TO DRAW THE AGENDA TO YOU?
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Jan 16 08:58:06 2024 UTC)
Lead Stories conducted a Google search (archived here) on January 17, 2024, with the terms "Andrej Plenković kvota 500 000 stranih radnika" (in English: "Andrej Plenković quota 500,000 foreign workers"). The search produced no results that corroborated the claim.
According to the Croatian Employers Association (archived here), it is projected that the total number of work permits in 2024 will be more than 200,000, and the total number of foreign workers could reach 400,000 to 500,000 by 2030, assuming a gross domestic product growth of about 2.5 percent over the next seven years. In 2023 39 percent more residence and work permits were issued than in 2022, of which two-thirds were for work in construction and tourism, according to the Croatian Employment Service (archived here).
Health insurance in the Republic of Croatia (archived here) is mandatory for all persons residing in Croatia, foreigners with approved permanent residence in Croatia, foreigners with approved temporary residence in Croatia, citizens of other member states of the European Union and citizens of a nonmember state with approved temporary residence in Croatia, and on the basis of an employment relationship with an employer based in Croatia. Rights from compulsory health insurance include the right to health care and the right to financial benefits. The right to health care includes the right to primary health care, the right to specialist-advisory health care, the right to hospital health care, the right to medicines, the right to dental aids, the right to orthopedic and other aids and the right to health care in other member states and third countries.
The right to financial benefits includes salary compensation during inability to work due to the use of health care, compensation for transportation costs in connection with the use of health care from mandatory health insurance, compensation for accommodation costs for one of the parents or a person who takes care of a child during the child's hospital treatment. All citizens who are insured by the Croatian Insurance Institute as unemployed persons (archived here) and are not recorded at the Employment Institute must personally report to the Croatian Insurance Institute every three months. If they do not do this, they will lose their compulsory health insurance.
Lead Stories conducted a Google search (archived here) on January 17, 2024, with the terms "ukidanje zdravstvenog osiguranja za hrvate" (in English: "termination of health insurance for Croatians"). The search showed no results, apart from articles about unemployed people who have not personally reported to the Croatian Insurance Institute and are in risk of losing their health insurance.
People who have been granted international protection in the Republic of Croatia have the right to health care (archived here) in accordance with the Law on Compulsory Health Insurance and Health Protection of Foreigners in the Republic of Croatia.
According to Article 21 (archived here), an asylum seeker, a foreigner under subsidiary protection, a foreigner under temporary protection and a foreigner who is a family member of an asylum seeker, a foreigner under subsidiary protection or a foreigner under temporary protection have the right to health care to the same extent as insured persons from compulsory health insurance on the burden of the state budget.
Other Lead Stories fact checks about topics related to migrants in Croatia can be found here (archived here).
