Yurin's day

Tatyana Golikova introduced the new head of the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund

Last night, Minister of Health and Social Development Tatyana Golikova introduced the employees of the Federal Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (FFOMS) to their new head Andrei Yurin , who until recently headed the department of interbudgetary relations in the Ministry of Finance.

The department directors who had gathered at the round table, waiting for the minister and the new fund manager, joked gloomily, clearly feeling out of place. And they can be understood, because the departure of their former boss, acting director of the FFOMS Dmitry Reichart (as the position of the first person was called before the adoption of recent amendments to the FFOMS charter) became known only last Friday. The power in the main settlement center of the national healthcare changed so quickly that they did not even have time to change the sign on the door of the office of the head of the fund. And the FFOMS employees did not have time to get to know Andrei Yurin in an informal setting before the official induction into his position.

With her short speech, Tatyana Golikova immediately removed all uncertainty. Firstly, she explained that Andrei Taranov, who headed the FFOMS until November 2006 and was arrested on suspicion of financial fraud, is no longer the director of the fund, since such a position simply does not exist under the new charter. “He will remain behind the staff until the issue with his person is resolved,” the minister said. Then she expressed gratitude to the now former acting director and thanked Dmitry Reichart for the work done. And she began to describe Mr. Yurin’s merits. “The new manager is a professional financier. His whole life was devoted to finance. And he has high authority among the governors and leaders of the constituent entities of the federation,” noted Ms. Golikova. Which immediately led to the idea that the previous head of the fund was not strong in these qualities.

The minister also noted that the fund should in the future deal with real medical insurance. “The main financial flows should gradually accumulate in the compulsory medical insurance system,” she emphasized and promised that the Ministry of Health and Social Development “will provide assistance to the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund, as before.”

Andrei Yurin himself immediately noted that the foundation and the ministry entrusted to him are a single organism. “One of my main tasks for 2009 is to make proposals to change legislation in the field of compulsory medical insurance,” Mr. Yurin told Vremya Novostei. “And also a move away from multi-channel financing, which does not allow the industry to function properly.” All this is completely no different from the plans of Dmitry Reichart. With the only caveat: during his two years of work, he never felt unity with the ministry.

Galina PAPERNAYA