Armenia`s Universal health insurance implementation postponed with no  set timeline

ArmInfo.There are no plans to implement Universal Health Insurance (UHI) in Armenia in 2025.  Minister of Finance of Armenia Vahe Hovhannisyan stated this in parliament on November 1, noting that there is no corresponding expenditure item in the draft budget for the following year.

According to the document, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of  Armenia will allocate 162 billion 996.5 million drams for 2025,  including expenses for maintaining the administrative apparatus.  Current expenses are planned to be 5.3 billion drams, which is 3.1%  less than the expenses for the current year.  <Unfortunately, the  fiscal capacity of the Republic of Armenia at this stage does not  allow us to satisfy the entire volume of the application we  submitted,>  Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan pointed out.  It is  noteworthy that in the budget message for 2024, several paragraphs  were <highlighting>  the implementation of General Health Insurance,  saying that in the future, that is, in the current year, more than 26  billion drams are allocated for these purposes, with 18 billion drams  specifically designated for introducing the UHI. The financial  authorities, in the current message, have  included just one  sentence: <In the near future, it is planned to prepare the  healthcare system for the introduction of comprehensive health  insurance by implementing measures to improve the quality of the  healthcare sector>.

During a parliamentary session, it was brought to the attention of  the head of the Ministry of Finance that there was no corresponding  expenditure item. When questioned about this, the head of the  Ministry of Finance explained that the funds allocated for the  project in 2024 were not used as planned, because the system  implementation was postponed. As a result, some of the funds were  redirected to other programs.  The state budget for the following  year does not include provisions for this program, mainly due to the  country's fiscal constraints

The deputies from the ruling faction of the National Assembly  retorted that it may be feasible to postpone the introduction of the  UHI, as long as the current Cabinet's program aims to have the system  fully operational by 2027. Furthermore, the compulsory health  insurance is one of the conditions for the liberalization of the visa  regime with the European Union.  The head of the Ministry of Finance,  in turn, noted that the draft budget for 2025 already includes a very  high deficit level of 5.5%. Any new expenses would further increase  the deficit, state debt, or necessitate new taxes, while also  potentially reducing budget expenditure items. He emphasized the  importance of considering the issue from this perspective, indicating  that the authorities will return to the program once they feel  adequately prepared for it.