Health System Reform in Kyrgyzstan: Problems and Prospects

Today all over the world costs of medical services are growing and alternative ways of effective financing of health care are being researched. During the reforms the Kyrgyz Republic introduced a system of compulsory medical insurance, the institution of family medicine and a "single payer" system. Methods of payment for hospital services flush to an artificial increase in the number of hospitalizations and unnecessary assignment of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The main brake of health care reform is underfunding of sector. Improving health care is possible by limiting the free medical care. The replacement of free care by paid services occurs spontaneously, there are abuses and the shadow economy in health care. The Compulsory medical insurance doesn’t have such terms as an accident, insurance risk, and the current model in Kyrgyzstan is not a real model of insurance and serves as a kind of state-funding health care. The most part of the population in rural areas is not involved in the payment of health insurance due to unemployment. Patients pay a fee in addition to medication, and also carry out informal payments to doctors, that is, patient with co-payments have to repeatedly pay for the same medical service without a guarantee of a cure. Taking into account the experience of other countries, the imposition of patient payment for their own care is more just to bringing the patient for his treatment.