RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The aim: This article aims to show the role of local budgets in financing health care in communities, and to initiate a discussion on the possibility of expanding powers of local government bodies in the sphere of health care. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: This study is based on the normative acts of the Republic of Poland and Ukraine, conclusions, reports of the Regional Chambers of Audit (Regionalnych Izb Obrachunkowych) in the Republic of Poland, OECD Indicators and budget gminas. Dialectical, comparative, analytical methods and the method of system analysis were used. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: Health care is among own tasks of gminas. Special legislation in the sphere of health care clarifies and narrows the tasks of gminas to monitoring and assessing public health, as well as to development, implementation and evaluation of special policy programs in the sphere of health care, according to identified needs of community residents and projects aimed at informing people about factors harmful to health and about their consequences. These programs can be financed from the budgets of gminas. This approach reduces and limits potential of local governments in the health care sector. Only in the event of an emergency gminas have the right to assign additional tasks to a medical entity and to finance these tasks from their own budget. In order to improve the quality and clarity of legislation own tasks of gminas in the sphere of health care (point 5, Part 1 Art. 7 of the Law of the Republic of Poland dated 8 March, 1990 "On municipal Government") should be specified taking into account point 1 Art. 2 of the Law of the Republic of Poland dated 11 September, 2015 "On Health Care".