Officials anticipate a minus of close to €100 million this year, followed by another €68 million next year. This means that the CNS reserves will have to be used, which will decrease them from €970 million to €790 million next year.
CNS has therefore issued a warning over additional structural expenses, which keep straining the budget. If nothing is done to counteract the trend, CNS will reach the legally grounded limit of 10% in reserves in four years time.
Only blaming the pandemic for the development would be wrong, warn CNS officials. What really strains the budget is the covering of costs from additional treatments, including Long-Covid and psychotherapy, for instance.
CNS officials therefore bid caution before they have to keep using more and more of their reserves to balance out deficits.
