Compulsory medical insurance to be introduced since 2020

Since 2020, the introduction of compulsory medical insurance will begin throughout Azerbaijan, Deputy Prime Minister, Executive Secretary of the New Azerbaijan Party, Deputy Chairman Ali Ahmadov told reporters on February 5, Trend reported.

He noted that currently compulsory medical insurance is operating as a pilot project in the city of Mingachevir, Agdash and Yevlakh regions.

"The results of the pilot projects show that people really need this [compulsory medical insurance]," said Ahmedov.

The Deputy Prime Minister went on to say that the 2019 can be considered the year of preparation for the full-scale implementation of the compulsory medical insurance.

"During the year, all the hospitals will conduct the necessary preparatory work. I believe that the experience gained during the implementation of pilot projects is enough to prepare hospitals for the introduction of the compulsory medical insurance system during the year," he said.

Since the end of 2016, a pilot project on CMI has been implemented in the country, which currently covers the city of Mingachevir, as well as the Yevlakh and Agdash regions of the republic.

During the first year of implementation of pilot project, a lot of attention was paid to the number of services and their accessibility for the population, then within the framework of the second year the attention was paid more to quality. At the same time, organizers prepared a plan for a full transition of the entire country to compulsory medical insurance. In July 2018, a consultant who would be responsible for the successful transition period was appointed. A lot of work has been done and a special roadmap was prepared. This was stated by Zaur Aliyev, the Chairman of the Board of the State Agency for Mandatory Insurance, during the business forum arranged by the Caspian European Club on August 29, 2018.

During the business forum, he also spoke about the determination of the approximate amount of insurance premiums to receive services for the compulsory medical insurance and stated that process was carried out mainly based on the results of the pilot project and has almost been completed. As a result of calculations and taking into account the economic situation, there was taken the figure of 120 manat ($70.38) as the basis.

In addition, a number of categories of citizens of the country, such as, children, pensioners, disabled people and low-income families will be exempt from payment of insurance premiums. Their expenses on compulsory medical insurance will be paid by the state. People will be able to pay insurance premiums in installments.