Parbeszed protests against new social benefits law

The opposition Parbeszed party on Monday staged a protest at the president's office against a new law tightening social benefit rules. The law passed last week rolls pensions, health-care, labour-market and in-kind contributions into one from next year. Under the new law, private individuals who do not pay health insurance for three consecutive months will be barred from making use of state health-care services. At the protest, Parbeszed lawmaker Bence Tordai called the law "shameful and inhumane". More than a million Hungarian citizens are at risk of losing eligibility to state health-care services, he said, adding that every ninth citizen may end up only receiving emergency care on condition it is paid for in advance.