Saturday, February 4 2023 16:16

ArmInfo. Employed citizens will not pay compulsory health insurance (CHI) contributions of non-employed citizens.  Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan stated  during a Facebook press conference of RFE/RL's Armenian service.  

<In our insurance system (proposed by the Ministry of Health, ed.   note), an employed citizens will pay for themselves, non-employed  citizens who are not disabled, pensioners, etc., will have to pay  insurance contributions themselves. If a person declares his income  and it is less than the average salary, the state will subsidize it.  But, if a person does not declare (income), then it is assumed that  he can afford to pay the entire amount of the insurance premium>, the  minister said.

To a clarifying question about who would then pay for the parents of  pensioners of the same employee, the head of the Ministry of Health  noted: "We all pay in one way or another - in the form of taxes."

Back in 2017, under the government of Karen Karapetyan, it was  proposed to introduce compulsory health insurance (insurance is fully  paid by the citizen every month in the amount of 6000 drams or 50|50,  that is, 50% is paid by the citizen, and the other 50% by the  employer).

The second attempt was already made by the government of Nikol  Pashinyan. In 2019, the Ministry of Health proposed cutting off 4-6%  of employees' wages for health insurance from 2022. This project of  the Ministry of Health caused a mixed reaction, primarily due to the  fact that many employed citizens found it inappropriate to pay  non-employed citizens.

At the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Health put into  circulation a new draft of the Concept, according to which the  implementation of the system will start this year and 2023 will be  the "preparatory phase". The next three years - 2024-2026 - are the  "testing phase", and from the fourth year, from 2027, it is planned  to fully implement the CHI. It is noted that the necessary financial  resources for CHI will come from two main sources: the state budget  and insurance contributions. Funds from the state budget will be  allocated on a co-financing basis to cover insurance costs, taking  into account the social and medical risks of beneficiaries.

Independent experts considered the Concept unfinished, crude and not  meeting the declared goals and objectives. It is noted that without  the necessary reforms, the system will turn into a monster that will  conserve all inefficiency in the system and even multiply its degree.   In particular, the Ministry of Health proposed the Concept, without  saying a word about the existence of the most serious tasks in the  field, about the need to increase its effectiveness. The new document  does not specify either the amount of the insurance contributions or  the mechanism for deducting funds in the form of a percentage of the  salary or a fixed amount. The formula for determining state  participation is also not specified. It is only known, and then -  from the words of a member of the working group on the development of  the document, voiced by him during the discussion - that, according  to a preliminary assessment, based, according to him, on actuarial  calculations, each working citizen will have to pay 150-200 thousand  drams annually. However, the figure is not final and is subject to  annual revision.  Despite the criticism, on February 2 the document  was approved by the RA government.