Problems of Transition from Tax-Based System of Health Care Finance to Mandatory Health Insurance Model in Russia

Annotation
The transition from the command administration model to market-driven economy in Russia incorporated the attempt to replace the former tax-based system of health care finance with the mandatory health insurance (MHI) model. The reform, however, was hindered by complexity of the proposed mandatory health insurance system, its incomplete implementation, eclectic combination of old and new financial arrangements, wide cross-regional variations in transitional models, poor coordination of actions and delineation of authorities between players in the field of health care finance, and failure to induce due competition between health insurance carriers.