Posted on 01/18/2004 12:52:02 PM PST by RussianConservative
MOSCOW - At the first government session yesterday Russian Premier Minister Mikhail Kasyanov stated that the time had come to start reform in a most sensitive and important sphere, which is social. And one of the most important parts of the reform is creating of an effective medical insurance system.
A new system of obligatory medical insurance was actually created in 1993 but it did not prove to be very effective. One of the main reasons of it was not quite appropriate financing system. “At the moment the financing from the budget goes to policlinics, to hospitals according to quantity of beds, not to payment for medical services actually rendered to people”, Kasyanov noted.
The new legislation offered by the first deputy minister of economical development Mikhail Dmitriev, suggests ways of resolving this problem, the main way being centralization of money distribution system.
The legislation was approved by the government, although it still lacks some important detail – the status of insurance companies is not clarified and the list of medical services and their cost is not determined. Authors must complete the project till Feb., 15.
According to Labour and Social Development Minister Alexander Pochinok, if the legislation had not been approved, it would have delayed the start of the medical insurance reform for another year.
As Kommersant analysts note, this may mean that the approval was more of a political decision.
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