“The best incentive is the right to choose”

Experts interviewed by the Vremya Novostei newspaper believe that today's Russian legislation does not have enough mechanisms that would facilitate the rapid development of voluntary health insurance as an alternative to compulsory medical insurance policies, which are very expensive for budgets but do not guarantee the quality of service.

Director of the personal insurance department of SAC "Energogarant" Natalya KLIMENKO:

-- Currently, there are not enough mechanisms in Russian legislation to stimulate VHI. I would like to make tax benefits more significant when concluding voluntary health insurance contracts with both legal entities and individuals. 3% of the wage fund is not enough to purchase a comprehensive voluntary health insurance program for the company’s staff. For individuals, taking into account the benefits provided today, it is more profitable to go directly to a medical institution. But at the same time, the effect of control over the quality of medical care by insurance companies is lost.

Sales Manager of the Yakor insurance company Alexey KOROSTELEV:

-- I believe that a real improvement in the quality of medical care would be facilitated by legislation providing legal entities, and primarily large companies, with a choice between contributions to compulsory and voluntary health insurance. Today, when all enterprises are required to pay a single social tax, which includes contributions to compulsory health insurance, only the most responsible employers care about additionally purchasing voluntary health insurance policies for their employees. The main mechanism for stimulating VHI is giving employers the right to choose where to allocate funds. In this case, in my opinion, most companies, especially large ones, would prefer to purchase voluntary health insurance packages that suit them.

Deputy Head of the Department of Mass Personal Insurance of Kapital Insurance OJSC Alexey CHERMOSHENTSEV:

-- The incentive mechanisms available in the legislation are not enough for both organizations purchasing a voluntary health insurance policy for employees and members of their families, and for individuals. It is necessary, first of all, to remove tax restrictions on corporate medical insurance - so that expenses for voluntary health insurance of organizations are included in labor costs in the amount of actual costs, and not with a limit of 3%, as is currently provided. It is also necessary that the costs of voluntary health insurance of organizations are included in labor costs not only when insuring employees, but also their family members, and that insurance premiums of an organization when purchasing voluntary health insurance policies for family members are not subject to personal income tax. I believe that the social tax deduction should apply not only to the amounts spent by citizens on treatment, but also to the purchase of a voluntary health insurance policy.

General Director of the company "RUKSO" Alexander KOBETS:

-- In order for a private person to receive a decent insurance program with inpatient treatment, it is necessary to pay at least 30 thousand rubles. per year. This is clearly inaccessible to a person with average income. But even those who purchase the VHI program formally remain participants in the compulsory health insurance system, and they do not receive any compensation. Unified Social Tax is still accrued on their salary, even if the policy holder does not go to district clinics. It turns out that in any case he pays twice. In addition, a citizen who does not have a voluntary health insurance policy, after receiving paid medical services, has the right to subsequently apply to the tax authorities to receive the required deduction, while an insured person under VHI does not receive such a right.

For employers, voluntary health insurance policies will cost less, but in any case not less than 20 thousand rubles. They can be used up quite quickly, and subsequently the insurance amount must be replenished. The Tax Code, as is known, allows only 3% of the wage fund to be included in the cost of voluntary health insurance for employees. Having made calculations, we find that each employee should receive a salary of approximately 55,600 rubles. monthly. But this is two to three times higher than the average for Moscow alone. For enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses, everything taken together turns out to be completely inaccessible.

And another not the most pleasant trend of today is the periodic increase in the cost of their services by medical institutions, despite the fact that there is a gap between price and quality. Subject to compliance with the law, an employer can pay today only about 8 thousand rubles for one employee, which is not capable of providing even a decent program. Enterprises must pay for everything else from net profit. Or the set amount can be spent only on management.

There is a demand for corporate voluntary health insurance, and the overall dynamics of development of this type is positive. In my opinion, it would be advisable to either allow costs to be charged to production costs in full, or significantly increase tax benefits. Under this condition, demand could increase several times.