Election therapy

United Russia is concerned about medicines for the electorate

Last year's debts, which arose during the implementation of the program for additional drug provision (DLO), became a “stone on the neck” of the Ministry of Health in 2007. If domestic drug manufacturers working under the DLO can somehow be put under pressure and forced to ship drugs without paying off the debt for 2006, then with Western suppliers - in price terms their goods account for more than 70% of the entire program - everything is much more complicated . Signals about a lack of funds for the purchase of preferential medicines and payment of debts have been coming from all sides since the end of January; in particular, the authorities of Magadan, Adygea, Karelia, Tambov and Pskov regions are experiencing problems. In total, 20 regions are in a crisis situation. The disappearance of products from even several large manufacturers from pharmacies can cause local social disturbances, market analysts believe, which is especially unpleasant for the authorities in the year of parliamentary elections.

Apparently, it was precisely this situation that forced the leaders of United Russia to urgently look for options to support the Ministry of Health and Social Development, which is so disliked by deputies. Recently, United Russia members introduced a bill to the State Duma that provides for the allocation of an additional 16 billion rubles. to cover up the holes in the DLO program this year. And in the future, deputies and health officials are going to develop new legislation on beneficiaries, the rules of which should protect the budget of the Federal Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (FFOMS) from overspending on medicines. Techniques that will allow the party in power to distance itself from past and possibly future scandals related to the provision of medications to beneficiaries were discussed yesterday at a meeting organized by the health protection committee.

The deputies invited almost all the officials responsible for the program to report to them - acting. General Director of the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund Dmitry Reichart, head of the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare and Social Development (Roszdravnadzor) Ramil Khabriev, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Health and Social Development Vladimir Starodubov and representatives of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). It followed from Mr. Reichart’s speech that the current financial problems were the fault of the beneficiaries themselves, who could not resist the opportunity to receive monetary compensation, and the doctors who prescribed expensive original drugs “to entire entrances in absentia.” In order to restore balance to the system, according to the head of the FFOMS, it is necessary to extend the DLO to a larger number of citizens, while identifying categories that will not have the right to monetize their benefits, that is, the right to receive money instead of free medicines. Such a restriction may apply, for example, to public sector employees and citizens over 60-65 years of age. In addition, Mr. Reichart suggested that beneficiaries who want to be treated with expensive drugs in the presence of cheap analogues should pay the difference in price. And, most importantly, the fund plans to further reduce the cost of purchasing medicines. “Based on the results of the competition this year, we reduced purchase prices by more than 20%, which gave an economic effect of 3.7 billion rubles,” reported the head of the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund. “Prices at DLO are lower than at retail,” the head of Roszdravnadzor, Ramil Khabriev, supported his colleague. “Since 2005, prices for drugs in the program have never increased, but have been reduced several times.” He explained to the picky United Russia members that throughout the country, producer prices are considered the base price. But locally they have the right to make a regional surcharge, which covers the transportation costs of authorized pharmaceutical enterprises (distributors) and the costs of operating pharmacy warehouses.

It seemed that the dialogue at the meeting was developing according to the usual scenario - officials would ask the deputies for money, promise to “improve” and disperse before the next scandal. But peaceful repentance was not allowed by the representative of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, Timofey Nizhegorodtsev, who stated that in a number of regions prices under DLO are higher than on free sale. “This is a direct offense that must be suppressed,” says the FAS representative. This position surprisingly coincided with the assessment of the Prosecutor General’s Office, published on the eve of the Duma “brainstorming”. The submission of the supervisory agency “On eliminating violations of the legislation regulating the issues of additional drug provision for certain categories of citizens” states that the territorial bodies of Roszdravnadzor “do not fully fulfill the powers assigned to them.” The structures subordinate to the Ministry of Health and Social Development are recommended to take measures “to prevent prices for medicines for preferential categories of citizens from exceeding market prices in retail pharmacies.” At the end of his numbers-filled speech, Mr. Nizhegorodtsev told United Russia that DLO had become unprofitable even for pharmacies, since wholesalers allegedly took a significant part of the margin. And pharmacies are allegedly “leaving DLO” en masse.

The head of Roszdravnadzor, who slowly turned purple throughout the speech, simply could not bear such black injustice. “DLO prices cannot be exceeded, if only because the FFOMS checks every prescription. And the number of pharmacies is constantly growing!” - Mr. Khabriev was indignant. “Where does this data come from?! We sent a number of requests to the FAS, and each time we received the answer: everything is fine with DLO, everything is wonderful!” - Chairman of the Duma Committee on Health Protection Tatyana Yakovleva was also perplexed. The heated conversation was interrupted by Vladimir Starodubov, who proposed measuring the effectiveness of the program not only in financial categories: “Last year, we reduced mortality by 138 thousand people, which means that for the first time medicines reached those in need who had never had access to it before.” access." True, the deputy minister himself immediately returned to the monetary sphere, saying that it would be necessary to save hard this year, because the amount of funds allocated for benefit recipients in 2007 was half as much as last year.

Galina PAPERNAYA