According to the survey by NEWS.am Medicine, Armenians are not ready to pay for health insurance. On the question – how much are you ready to pay for health insurance, 857 (65%) of 1310 respondents answered, that they are not ready to pay at all, 351 people or 27 % answered, that they are ready to pay 40,000-60,000 Drams per year, and 102 people or 8 % of respondents were ready to pay 80,000-100,000 Drams.
Lot or a little, and if this opinion of Armenian people coincides with the opinion of health officials, we asked to comment the head of the State Health Agency of Armenia Saro Tzaturyan.
According to Tzaturyan, unwillingness of Armenians to pay for insurance is due primarily to the lack of information on this topic. Tsaturian believes that if the population of the country is better informed and if we explain what a health insurance is and why it is needed, the approach of people towards this issue will change.
«We all pay for medical services, and introduction of health insurance will provide an opportunity to make payment methods more civilized, more predictable and more affordable. People pay for medical help when they are not sick, when they are healthy. And they do not pay a large amount at once, but in small sums, » explained Tzaturyan.
On the question – is it possible, that Armenians avoid paying for health insurance, because they have no money – Tzaturyan answered: If mandatory health insurance is introduced in Armenia, most of the payments will be made by the employer. As for payments by citizens, Tzaturyan did not mention what funds Armenians will have to pay each month, but, according to him, it would be no more than 2-3 per cent of the average wage. As for socially disadvantaged citizens, their insurance, according to Tzaturyan will be covered by the state.
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