Valery Zukin, General Director of the Medical Center “Stork”.
Surcharge for medical services in PMG — advantages and obstacles.
• The controversy in this topic begins because of the difference in terminology. A co-payment is a fixed fee for certain types of medical care or the provision of medicines. The surcharge is to cover the difference between the established rates and the real cost of medical care. These are fundamentally different things. Surcharge for medical care has many advantages for both patients and the state. The key question is who to allow to receive surcharges. Allowing only private ones is lobbying the interests of private institutions. Allowing everyone prohibits Art. 49 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
• In 2015, the European Commission funded a study on the problem of informal payments in Ukraine. Research leader Wim Groth said: “Considering the analysis of financial flows in the Ukrainian OZ system, the main conclusion is that the OZ system in Ukraine has already been privatized.” Let's compare the sources of funding for medical institutions. State and municipal institutions have income from the NHSU, receipts from the budget for utility payments and capital contributions, the “shadow sector” has not gone anywhere and they do not pay taxes.
• Private institutions have income only from the funds of patients, receive nothing from the budget, do not have any “shadow sector”, but still have to pay taxes. Unequal conditions of competition with which nothing can be done.During the war, the following factors have changed: - decrease in solvency - shortage of personnel - physical destruction of medical facilities - increased need for investment - increase in the need for some medical areas (rehabilitation)
• Another factor of inequality — mortgage loans for medical workers are provided only to employees of institutions of state and municipal ownership.
And in March 2022, no one asked us private or public.
