Researchers at National Research University Higher School of Economics Release New Data on Public Health (The hard way from the Beveridge to the Bismarck model of health finance: Expectations and reality in Russia): Health and Medicine – Public Health

Insurance Daily News

2023 MAR 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A new study on public health is now available. According to news originating from Moscow, Russia, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Most post-Soviet countries have introduced mandatory health insurance (MHI) systems which completely or partially replaced national health systems known as budgetary models.”

The news journalists obtained a quote from the research from National Research University Higher School of Economics: “In Russia, an attempt was made to introduce a competitive MHI model with multiple health insurers. The current MHI system has, however, acquired an increasing number of features inherent in the previous budgetary model. This study analyzes the institutional characteristics and the outcomes of a new mixed model. A combination of two analytical approaches is used as follows: (1) considering three functions of the financing system (revenue collection, pooling funds, and purchasing healthcare) and (2) exploring three types of the model regulation (state, societal, and market). We analyze the types of regulation that are used to implement each of the three financial functions. The model has contributed to more sustainable health funding, its geographical equalization, and service delivery restructuring, while the implementation of its purchasing function has many unsolved problems.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “We highlight the dilemma of the further development of the model by (a) continuing to replace the remaining market and societal regulatory mechanisms with state regulations or (b) developing market mechanisms and thereby strengthening the impact of health insurers on the health system performance. Lessons for countries considering the transformation of their budgetary health finance model to the MHI model are presented.”

For more information on this research see: The hard way from the Beveridge to the Bismarck model of health finance: Expectations and reality in Russia. Frontiers in Public Health, 2023,11. (Frontiers in Public Health - http://journal.frontiersin.org/journal/public-health). The publisher for Frontiers in Public Health is Frontiers Media S.A.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1104209.

Our news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Sergey Shishkin, Center for Health Policy, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia. Additional authors for this research include Igor Sheiman.