The economic analysis of provision of medical services via medical insurance in Russia

Abstract

The article demonstrates that the restrictions introduced during the coronavirus pandemic affected the dynamics of mutual settlements between the territorial funds of the mandatory medical insurance (MMI, TFMMI). According to the results of the first nine months of 2020, medical institutions of a number of subjects were not able to earn even a half of the amount of sum that was presented for payment in 2019 on medical care support of patients from other regions. It was established that besides such relevant features of the Russian health care system as large territory, fragmentation of population, necessity to maintain a number of state medical institutions, there is also a number of factors that during the pandemic were most aggravated in those "weak" places in the MMI system that have been stagnating for a long time. Among them, insufficiently large listing of medical services covered by MMI, inability to provide medical services to all those in need due to shortage of equipment, working areas, qualified care, etc. It is noted that among the general trends of MMI, the Russian medical insurance system (not only that it is not a classical one), especially during the pandemic, is broken out of social insurance: two funds, structures, costs of informatization, etc. However, in Russia, even in such conditions, health care is funded through the MMI system up to 50%. The pandemic demonstrated that no private sector, no paid services, no commercial insurance companies can cover the whole spectrum of health care complicities during the pandemic crisis. Namely, the MMI system bore the brunt of the survival of medicine during the pandemic. It is concluded that namely the need in medical institutions with sufficient reserve of bed fund with MMI services can input into development of necessary stable basis for survival in difficult conditions of pandemic crisis. The proposal of the Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation of further reforming of the mandatory medical insurance system is considered reasonable and logical especially in difficult situation of struggle against COVID-19. The article also presents data concerning the state of MMI in 2020, at the height of the pandemic crisis in the regions of the Russian Federation.