Armenian government health sector officials were noticeably absent at a roundtable discussion today in Yerevan regarding a comprehensive medical insurance system that the current administration plans to introduce in 2023.

The administration says such a system is urgently needed given the high medical costs in Armenia.

The Reporters for the Future NGO organized the panel discussion and invited Armenian Deputy Health Minister Lena Nanushyan to describe the insurance system in further detail.

Nanushyan arrived at the hotel where the panel was to take place but quickly left the building citing “unforeseen circumstances”.

Varduhi Petrosyan (Dean of the AUA Turpanjian College of Health Sciences) and Davit Melik-Nubaryan (senior lecturer at the Department of Public Health and Health Management of the Yerevan State Medical University) confirmed their partuicipation but never showed up. An invitation was sent to the National Institute of Health as well.

NGO representatives constituted the majority at the panel. The only government representative was Ara Sinanyan, a specialist with Standing Committee on Health and Social Affairs He too was puzzled by the absence of health officials.

In 2019, the Armenian Ministry of Health introduced the idea of compulsory medical insurance for all citizens, which was widely criticized. Talks on the introduction of the system later stopped In April 2021, a working group headed by Lena Nanushyan was formed, which continued to work in that direction and drafted a bill. To date, it hasn’t been published.

In February of this year, Reporters for the Future conducted a survey on the planned comprehensive medical insurance system to find out who would be paying what and if medical expenses would decrease as a result.

Today’s panel participants said that Armenia’s healthcare sector is not ready to transition to comprehensive health insurance, either in terms of infrastructure, personnel or financial resources.

Law Development Center NGO Head Violeta Zopunyan believes that many questions must be answered before such a system can be adopted in Armenia. 

A member of the Ministry of Health’s Public Council, Zopunyan has participated in several ministry discussions on the system but does not consider them sufficient. She says it remains to be seen what body/agency will operate and oversee such a system and cites the shortcomings of health care sector reforms to date as proof that such structural changes must be well drafted and debated.

Paylak Tadevosyan, President of the Taxpayers' Protection NGO, said no one knows the basis on which the Ministry of Health came up with the draft legislation for such a system. Zopunyan added that during discussions on the topic at the ministry, no research was presented

According to the draft, the threshold of a healthcare package for one person will be 84,000-360,000 drams, according to the amount of salary, and half will be paid by the employee - 42,000-180,000 thousand drams. 

According to the 2019 plan, it was envisaged to collect a health tax (insurance premium) only from employees at 2-6% of income. According to new version, 6% will be taxed - 3% from employer and employee. Self -employed people (private entrepreneurs, those involved in agriculture, etc.) will pay fixed fees.

 Tadevosyan believes this will be a financial burden for workers and employers.  He also believes it’s unfair to ask the employed to pay into an insurance system that will be used by the unemployed.

Referring to the introduction of comprehensive health insurance, Ara Sinanyan said that state insurance already exists in Armenia.

‘To operate the insurance system, in-depth calculations must be made and the types of insurance must be clearly distinguished.,” he said.

Photos by Journalists for the Future NGO