healthcare in Slovakia
The Eastern European country of Slovakia has a universal healthcare system for its population of 5.5 million people. Considering insurance, life expectancy and migration, there is a multitude of factors that play a role in the healthcare system of Slovakia. Here are five facts about healthcare in Slovakia.

5 Facts About Healthcare in Slovakia

Slovakia has a relatively low life expectancy. The average life expectancy in Slovakia is 77.3 years, which is lower than the average life expectancy in the E.U. The life expectancy for women is 80.7 years while the average life expectancy for men is 73.8 years. Higher education levels can correlate with living a longer life. As a specific example, men with the highest level of education are predicted to live 14 years longer than those less educated.
Slovakia supports universal healthcare. The country of Slovakia has universal healthcare coverage. Moreover, there are 44 state hospitals within the country. Citizens can choose between three nationwide health insurance companies; one is private while the two are public. There is a national average of 3.4 doctors per 1,000 people. In the capital region of Bratislava, there is a higher concentration of doctors with 6.9 physicians per 1,000 people.
The country is lacking healthcare workers. The migration of doctors to neighboring countries has resulted in a shortage of healthcare workers within the country. After Slovakia became a member of the E.U., an estimated 300,000 workers left for countries with better pay, between 2004 and 2019. This affected the number of people in the healthcare field and resulted in a below-average amount of nurses. To keep healthcare professionals in the country, many Slovakians believe that the government should allocate more funding toward the healthcare sector. In this same vein, the government could pay doctors and nurses higher wages.
Risk factors including obesity and smoking affect Slovakians’ lifespans. Obesity is increasing in Slovakia, with 14% of the population identified as overweight. Moreover, when considering the adult population, 20% smoke tobacco products — which contributed to more than 9,000 deaths in 2017. Slovakian men have shorter lifespans than Slovakian women due to partaking in more behavioral risk factors. However, half of the deaths related to these risk factors are preventable.
Roma populations face social discrimination, which leads to health inequalities. Regions such as Kosice and Presov, with large Roma populations, also have a lower life expectancy as well as an infant mortality rate that is twice the national average. The Roma Health Mediators Programme is working to eliminate the barriers of access to medical care. Some of these initiatives include language translations for doctors and enforcing insurance rights to promote the use of health services by the Roma population.

A Bright Future

In 2018, the Slovakian government created the public eHealth initiative to improve technology within hospitals and create electronic medical records. Interestingly, Slovakia has a low healthcare budget as compared with the rest of the E.U. countries. In 2019, the country increased its budget by €300 million, resulting in a total healthcare budget of €5.2 billion. If the government continues to follow this trend of investing more in its hospitals as it currently does — healthcare in Slovakia will greatly improve with additional support from nurses and technological advancements.

– Hannah Nelson
Photo: Pikist

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zhang yiming bytedance
ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming.

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance won’t be selling off TikTok’s US operations after all, Reuters reported Monday.
Instead, ByteDance is trying to set up a partnership with Oracle, allowing the US tech giant to manage TikTok’s US user data.
Microsoft announced on Sunday that its bid to acquire TikTok US had been rejected.
The Trump administration tried to force a sale of TikTok’s US operations using two executive orders in August, setting a deadline of September 15.
It’s not clear whether the US will allow TikTok to pursue a partnership with Oracle, rather than an outright sale.
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TikTok won’t sell its US business after all, a report suggests — meaning it will have to convince President Donald Trump to walk back an executive order demanding its sale to a US company by November 12.

Reuters reported Monday that TikTok was abandoning plans to sell off its US operations, and was instead striking a deal to make Oracle, the US tech giant, its “technology partner.” This chimes with a Wall Street Journal report from Sunday that said Oracle would be announced as TikTok’s “trusted tech partner.”

Microsoft announced on Sunday that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance had rejected its bid to buy TikTok US. Oracle was previously reported to be a potential buyer.

Sources told Reuters that as a technology partner, Oracle would manage TikTok’s US user data. It is not clear how this would work: TikTok says it keeps all its worldwide user data on US servers, with backups in Singapore. The same sources said Oracle is also trying to negotiate a stake in TikTok US.

Chinese state media are also reporting that TikTok is no longer for sale. Per Reuters, state-run TV station CGTN reported Monday that ByteDance won’t be selling TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft or Oracle, and that it won’t be handing over any of its source code.

The South China Morning Post reported Sunday that TikTok wouldn’t sell its all-important algorithm, citing a source familiar with the talks. In late August, Beijing passed new technology export laws that would force ByteDance to seek government permission to sell its algorithm to foreign company — effectively kneecapping sale talks. TikTok’s “For You” page is a key part of how the app drives user engagement.

A TikTok spokesman declined to comment on the various reports when contacted by Business Insider.

Not clear how Trump will react

If TikTok is going to partner with Oracle, the White House will need convincing.

President Trump last month signed two executive orders targeting ByteDance. The first ordered all US citizens and companies to cease any “transactions” with the firm by September 20. The second ordered ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations by November 12. If TikTok is going to propose a new structure, whereby it partners with Oracle instead of selling, Trump will have to walk back the second executive order.

The executive orders claim that because TikTok’s parent company is Chinese, the app’s user data could be passed to the Chinese government. TikTok maintains that it doesn’t hand over user data to Beijing, and is suing the Trump administration, claiming it was denied due process. 

Previously, Trump gave TikTok a deadline of September 15 to sell off its operations to a US company, and insisted last week that the deadline would not be extended. It is not clear how he will react to the news that it’s trying to avoid a sale.

ByteDance will also have to convince the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to wave through its partnership with Oracle. Sources told Reuters it plans to use a case from two years ago as precedent, where a Chinese company called China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co Ltd successfully bought US insurance company Genworth Financial Inc. In that deal, China Oceanwide Holdings agreed to engage a US-based third-party company to manage its customer data.

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