The Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine approved a roadmap for the introduction of health insurance by order of August 25, the ministry’s website reported on Monday.
According to the report, it is proposed to add a system of additional health insurance to the current system of financing healthcare in Ukraine at the expense of the state budget as a potential source of financial resources for the healthcare sector. This is because, due to the negative economic consequences of Russia’s large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine, the available financial resources are insufficient to meet the needs of citizens for sufficient quantity and quality of medical services.
The main advantages of additional health insurance, according to the Ministry of Health, include expanded access to additional services, improved quality of treatment not covered by the medical guarantees program, faster access to specialist doctors, coverage of expensive medicines and treatments, or access to additional medical services.
The additional health insurance is expected to help reduce the burden on the state budget in the healthcare sector, increase the choice of healthcare providers, insurers and insurance packages, which promotes competition in the insurance market and improves the quality of services provided by insurers, and attract private capital that can support the development and modernization of healthcare facilities and infrastructure.
According to the order, important steps to increase the role of additional health insurance should include: a clear definition of medical services not covered by the medical guarantees program, as well as other cases in which medical services can be provided to patients at the expense of individuals and legal entities. To this end, the Ministry of Health, together with the expert community, will develop the necessary regulations to determine the cases in which additional health insurance can complement rather than duplicate the medical guarantees program.
In addition, the development of pharmaceutical insurance, which provides for reimbursement of expenses for the purchase of medicines and/or medical devices, is also envisaged. This type of insurance is intended to protect patients from high costs of medicines, especially in cases where expensive or long-term treatment outside the state guarantee program is required.
To address these challenges, the Ministry of Healthcare, together with associations of insurers, banking institutions and other interested organizations, will establish cooperation in the field of additional medical insurance of the population’s expenses related to the provision of medicines and medical devices. In particular, joint activities are planned to enhance communication and find ways to resolve problematic issues, including simplifying the mechanisms for introducing additional health insurance and raising public awareness through information campaigns.
