Friday, January 31 2020 14:42

ArmInfo.The concept of introducing medical insurance in Armenia is at the stage of review, and in 2-3 months it will be posted again for review on a single  portal of legal documents e-draft.am. RA Minister of Healthcare Arsen  Torosyan announced this at a January 31 press conference.

Torosyan noted that before the final implementation of this system,  work is continuing in other areas with the aim of involving an  increasing number of citizens in the process of providing state  guarantees for the provision of medical care to the population. In  particular, the minister informed that when discussing the budget for  2021 he will try to attract maximum funds to provide additional  medical services to pensioners.  According to preliminary estimates,  the amount of 15-20 billion drams will be required for these  purposes.  Meanwhile, as was noted, subject to the introduction of  medical insurance, the solution of such issues of vulnerable segments  of the population would be more easily. At the same time, the  minister did not exclude the possibility that the initially declared  6% health tax could be reduced to 2%, and the remaining missing  amount would be covered by the state at the expense of other tax  revenues.

A similar approach, according to Torosyan, can lead to the gradual  introduction of medical insurance.

To recall, earlier the Ministry of Healthcare of Armenia proposed  starting from 2022 to introduce a 4-6% tax on wages for medical  insurance. According to the rationale for the document, the  development of the concept is due to the need to ensure the  availability of high-quality and timely medical services for all  citizens of the republic, regardless of gender, age, place of  residence and social status. Today, as the authors of the document  noted, the low level of financial accessibility has led to incomplete  workload of medical institutions. , the document said. 

Meanwhile, this project of the Ministry of Healthcare became a topic  of heated discussion, and was criticized not only by experts, but  also by ordinary citizens, pointing to a too high percentage of  .  We add that in Armenia there is a law on insurance and  insurance activities, within the framework of which voluntary medical  insurance is provided in the republic, to which 1.5% of total health  care expenses are allocated. To stimulate the system of voluntary  medical insurance, the tax code provides benefits to organizations  insuring the health of their employees - within the 120 thousand dram  package they can present these amounts as justified expenses, thereby  reducing the tax base for income tax.