Medical insurance to require large financing

/By AzerNews/

By Vusala Abbasova

Azerbaijan intends to fulfill implementation of compulsory medical insurance in order to provide citizens with quality medical care.

The Azerbaijani Government decided to enforce the use of mandatory health insurance in the country from January 2016, but the budget package to implement mandatory health insurance is yet to be defined.

Expert Hayal Mamedxanl? praised the idea of introducing compulsory medical insurance, but warned of big financing required to implement this governmental program.

Compulsory health insurance provides the citizens with free and quality medical care, preventing unofficial payments within the system.

Moreover, the financial resources of compulsory health insurance are formed of insurance contributions from employers, attracting the additional financing in the medicine.

The initial amount of insurance premium on compulsory medical insurance will be 4 percent of salary, deputy of Parliament of Azerbaijan Musa Guliyev said on October 30.

Guliyev noted that 2 percent of the premium will be paid by the employer and the remaining two per cent by the employee. He believes that the sum could be increased in the future.

"This sum amounts about 7 percent of salary in some countries, but it should be noted that the wages in Azerbaijan isn't so high. Therefore, I think, the sum in 4 percent of salary is an optimum size," Guliyev added.

However, Mamedxanl? is sure that full implementation of compulsory health insurance in the country will require about 2-3 billion manats (about $1.9-2.8 billion).

Currently, the government is able to pay premiums only in the amount of 10-20 manats (about $9-19), which is not enough for the productive work of compulsory health insurance, as even the ordinary consultation with a doctor costs 20-25 manats (about $19-23), he added.

The amount of medical premium should be no less than 200 manats (about $190), otherwise compulsory heath insurance won't work, the expert believes.

Mamedxanl? noted that currently some existing companies in the country are ready to implement compulsory heath insurance.

Therefore, the expert suggested to implement the pilot project of compulsory health insurance in any one region of Azerbaijan as its implementing throughout the country would be quite difficult.

Guliyev supported the idea of pilot project of compulsory health insurance in a region in order to analyze and correct deficients, which will base on the results of this project.

In his opinion this project should be gradually implemented.

Moreover, he believes that it would be better to introduce this type of insurance for categories of the population or diseased. It is also necessary to define the volume of the package of compulsory health insurance, Guliyev said.

The MP also noted that it is necessary to give a chance to every clinic to provide services on compulsory health insurance, which will create healthy competition in this area.

Therefore, there is no need to distinct the private and public hospitals in introduction of compulsory health insurance.

Generally, the introduction of compulsory health insurance will be very successful step for the Health of Azerbaijan, Guliyev believes.

Finance Minister Samir Sharifov recently voiced belief in the successful implementation of compulsory medical insurance in the country.

"There are no obstacles in a way to introduce compulsory health insurance in Azerbaijan," Sharifov said.

The new compulsory health insurance mandate will halve health service expenses, as its absence limits the country’s healthcare industry from reaching new levels of quality, therefore, it is so important for citizens.

Citizens will be provided with an insurance card due to be used when a patient seeks treatment. This card will cover payment for all procedures from a pool of collected insurance fees.

The Azerbaijani government has called for introducing compulsory health insurance to all employees for the period of 2016-2019.

To develop the insurance system, Azerbaijan would need to focus on improving its legal framework. Azerbaijan adopted a law on medical insurance in 1999.

According to the law, a compulsory form of health insurance is an integral part of the state social insurance policy and ensures the provision of medicines and medical service to the population.