OBJECTIVES: According to the Background report for the Social Protection, more Member States reduced the amount of sickness benefits partly due to the economic crisis in the 2000s. Also this is the reason of the general tendency that less people go on sick leave for a shorter period. We examined in our study how the amount spent on sickness benefits changed in Hungary between 2005 and 2016.

METHODS: Statistical reports of the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary and of the National Statistical Data Collection Program, data processed by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office in the period from 2005 to 2013 and in the period from 2014 to 2016 and the Background report for the Social Protection Committee’s ,,In-Depth Review on sickness benefits” were used to the analysis.

RESULTS: The annual sick-pay expenditure of the National Health Insurance Fund ranged from around 100 billion Forints (0.312 billion EUR) from 2005 to 2008. The highest amount of sickness benefits was paid in 2009, it was 108 billion Forints. (0.336 billion EUR). After that in 2010, the sickness expenditure sharply declined by 26%, and also in the following years the expenditures were reduced to 57 billion Forints (0.177 billion EUR) in 2012, and to 60 billion Forints in 2013 (0.193 billion EUR). The sickness expenditure increased between 2014 and 2016. In 2014 68 billion Forints, (0.211 billion EUR) in 2015 77 billion Forints (0.239 billion EUR) and in 2016 89 billion Forints (0.277 billion EUR) were paid out for sickness benefits.

CONCLUSIONS: It can be established that the amount spent on sickness benefits from the National Health Insurance Fund decreased significantly in Hungary between 2005 and 2013, and it is steadily rising from 2014.