According to an Oct. 6 report on the website of Russia's ****Youth Corps Pravda, the Russian government announced the end of paid health care and that citizens will be able to enjoy free health care in perpetuity. At the time, Russia's health minister cited constitutional provisions at the All-Russian Medical Media Forum and announced that Russian citizens are guaranteed free medical care in all governmental districts and health institutions in the Russian Federation.
The Health Minister said that this provision will not be changed now or in the future. All medical services included in the state guaranteed program are available to every Russian citizen from birth. And the program of medical services increases every year. So there will be no more paid health care in Russia.
But is there really a "free lunch"?
"Old news" is hotly debated
Russia's current "free" healthcare system dates back to Soviet times. Before 1970, the entire Soviet Union was covered by free medical care. The free services included first aid, outpatient care, and hospitalization, and treatments
covered everything from minor colds to serious cancers, but cosmetic surgery, dentistry, drug rehabilitation, and medication were not part of the free medical services. As a result, people in the Soviet Union did not have to worry about being thrown out of a hospital because they could not afford to pay their medical bills
. It became a welfare system that the Soviet Union was proud of.
In the early 1990s, Russia began to reform the Soviet-era health care system, and on April 1, 1994, a new health care system was officially introduced in Russia and guaranteed by the Constitution. Among other things, Article 41 of the Constitution states: "All persons shall have the right to health care and medical treatment. Medical care shall be provided free of charge in state and municipal health facilities, and shall be covered through the corresponding government budget, insurance contributions and other sources." So, to be precise, the Russian health minister's recent statement was merely a "reiteration" of that article.
The main measure of the health care reform at that time was the creation of a federal fund for health insurance, as well as regional health insurance funds financed by local governments and employers*** together. With the government providing only 60 percent of the fund, it was bittersweet in all regions.
In 2001, Russia introduced a flat social security tax to give the health insurance fund an ongoing source. This means that foreigners, including foreign students and part-timers, can also benefit from free health care
as long as they have legal status in Russia.
Wang Haidong, chairman of the RusBusiness Club, who has lived in Russia for more than a decade, said in an interview with the First Financial Daily that during the Soviet period, the free healthcare system was fully funded by the state; after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia
promoted a mandatory healthcare insurance system, whereby enterprises mainly paid social insurance funds, including health insurance, for their employees, and those who did not join the Those who are not enrolled in mandatory health insurance are paid for by the government. In short, free health care in Russia is financed by a combination of corporate contributions and government funding.
Behind free health care, the Russian government is committed to training a large number of doctors to meet the needs of society. As a result, there is a phenomenon that Russians call the emergency service hotline to ask for a doctor to come to their homes whenever they have a minor illness
Phantom. According to Wang Haidong, emergency ambulance service, for example, is completely free of charge in Russia, as well as for foreigners, except that there is a time limit for foreigners, i.e., it is free of charge within three days.
Of course, while providing free medical services, Russia still allows the existence of paid commercial medical services, also known as private hospitals. According to Wang Haidong, public hospitals were planned and built during the Soviet era, and there are free community hospitals in every
residential neighborhood. And, according to the principle of "division by residence", residents to enjoy free medical services must go to the public hospital in their community. However, if the public hospital in the community is unable to make an effective diagnosis, the hospital will help the patient to be transferred to a higher level of public hospital for treatment.
Free health care is not good enough
Currently, Russia's health care system is funded at about 3 percent of GDP annually, which still falls short of the World Health Organization's recommendation that member states, including Russia, allocate no less than 5 percent of GDP.
Russia's free health care system has been most criticized for its lack of resources, including doctors and medical equipment, long queues and poor quality of service. "The presence of the factor of government funding has led to the slow updating of medical equipment, and the environment of access to medical care is far inferior to that of private hospitals, inhibiting innovation in the Russian medical service industry." Wang Haidong told reporters.
"Many Russian friends around me want to go to public hospitals to see a doctor, and when they register, when they ask, they find that they have already been lined up to one month later, they immediately switch to private hospitals," Wang Haidong said, adding that "even though private hospitals are not cheaper, the disease does not wait for anyone. "
Russian industry experts estimate that there are 58,000 nonpublic medical institutions in Russia, and that about 82 million Russian citizens out of an overall population of about 150 million have received fee-based medical treatment, and that the number is rising at a rate of 1.6 percent per year, driven by the population's rising standard of living and declining trust in public health care institutions.
In addition, free health care has deprived doctors and hospitals of the opportunity to earn money, a direct result of which is "gray income" for doctors. This has also damaged the reputation of the Russian healthcare sector to a large extent. In Wang Haidong's view, free health care attracts more people from the lower income groups of Russian society. "Wealthy Russians, and even foreigners, are now mainly choosing private hospitals for their health care. The current trend is that more and more rich people within Russia prefer to go abroad for medical treatment and basically
abandon free healthcare."
Some other Russian experts have pointed out that since the capital fund needed behind free healthcare also requires businesses to make a partial contribution, some companies nowadays find ways to lower their contribution base and send the funds directly
to people's pockets through additional means. At the same time, the management of health insurance funds in Russian society is currently subordinate to multiple parties. According to the data, the Russian government, health insurance companies and the Foundation for Compulsory Health Insurance, respectively, are responsible for the supervision of funds, running payments and collection, but
the responsibilities and powers of the three are not clearly delineated, so conflicts of interest have always existed.
This is provided by Freeda Medical Device Consulting, whether it is true or not is unknown.