Kyrgyzstan has recently implemented a new policy that requires all citizens to have health insurance coverage. The decision was made in order to ensure that everyone in the country has access to quality healthcare services.
However, it also reduces the financial burden of medical expenses on citizens. All individuals must have health insurance, regardless of their age, financial status, or any other factors.
The State is responsible for providing mandatory health insurance coverage for those in the socially vulnerable category. Examples of these categories include the unemployed officially registered with the state employment service, pensioners, and persons with disabilities. However, children who receive social benefits, conscripts in military service under contract, and children under 16 years old.
Additionally, students of universities, colleges, or other daytime educational institutions are up to 21 years old. Citizens are insured by their employers who pay 2% of their wages into the Social Fund on their behalf. Employers in farming roles or as individual entrepreneurs when acquiring their license to operate they are required to pay taxes.
“The rest of the citizens who are not insured, do not belong to a socially vulnerable category of the population, are not registered anywhere and do not have any benefits, must purchase a mandatory medical insurance certificate and become insured and receive the right to medical services and preferential medicines.”
Kyrgyz hopes for the best
The Kyrgyz government hopes that this policy will enable people to receive medical treatment without worrying about the cost. It is also hoped that by making health insurance mandatory, the number of preventable illnesses and deaths caused by inadequate access to healthcare will be reduced.
