Many citizens using health insurance are complaining that they are now being asked for co-payments for medical services that were previously free:
A pensioner with a disability, Ms. Shogakat, emphasizes that after the elections she will have to pay for a doctor's consultation. "I have been disabled for over 10 years, I have never paid for anything. This is just new to me."
"They probably abolished health insurance," says another woman, who was asked for 6000 drams for a duplex vascular study. "Now they have abolished it and made it a co-payment. This insurance was a thing of a couple of months ago; before that, as I understand, co-payments started in July."
Another pensioner was asked for 15000 drams. This is co-payment, this is what those rushing to various hospitals hoping for free medical care are hearing.
People have returned to thoughts of dying due to lack of money. Co-payments have also reached children, several parents reported.
David Galstyan took his child to a pediatrician at the clinic. They had previously used the same clinic's services for free. "We went, consulted, the therapist looked, wrote a referral to the traumatologist, etc., we were supposed to approach with the referral, but this time we were warned that co-payment had started. It was unexpected, of course, because we had always been confident that children's treatment was at least free."
The traumatologist's service cost 9000 drams, of which the state pays 6000, and the parent pays 3000. The issue is not the money but the approach, emphasizes Galstyan. Children under 18 should be served for free; what kind of reform is this that worsens conditions for the most vulnerable groups, he said.
We spoke with people in various medical centers and clinics. Why do people insist that they are being asked for money for services that were previously free? We heard that they are more frequently paying for professional consultations.
Response from the Ministry of Health
Co-payment is provided for by legislation; there is no news, insists the acting director of the health insurance fund. The state has allocated 6000 drams for professional consultations, and according to Samvel Kharyazyan, this is a sufficient amount, but he says that medical centers can set different prices for these consultations, and the difference must be paid by the citizen, and if they do not want to pay, they must find a medical institution where there is no co-payment, where 6000 is sufficient.
And what about children? Previously, co-payment was not applied to those under 18. "There is no legislative regulation regarding free medical assistance for children under 18. There is no need to invent that everything was free before."
Parents insist that the same specialist in the same clinic served them for free, and only in the last month and a half have they been hearing the term co-payment. The head of the fund does not acknowledge that there is a problem, insisting that co-payment has existed since January. Was it not applied, did people not feel that they were paying money, why are they now complaining en masse?
"Why it has worsened specifically at this time, I do not want to comment on that," Kharyazyan said.
Parent David Galstyan suspects that during the pre-election period, medical centers were instructed not to apply co-payments or to be lenient, and now medical centers have gone into full swing.
They do not agree with the complaints, but said they are looking for a solution. They have contacted medical institutions to understand when, why, and how they apply co-payments.
According to Samvel Kharyazyan, they will create a platform where, according to medical institutions applying co-payments, it will be recorded how much a specialist's service costs, so that citizens are informed when they approach a medical institution.
The introduction of health insurance was the most praised reform in the last election campaign. Prime Minister Pashinyan heard only praise from elderly people who received free treatment, restored vision, and regained the ability to walk. We do not see complaints about co-payments at hundreds of campaign meetings. Now it turns out that it was in effect since the beginning of the year; it just seems that there were no complaints at that time, and now, for some reason, there are many complainants.
The Minister of Health, who has just returned from vacation, also tried to calm the tensions surrounding co-payments, asserting the same as the head of the fund: nothing has changed in the rules of co-payments. Anahit Avanesyan asked users in the comments of her video to indicate whether they paid, how much? The minister emphasizes the importance of feedback and received more than 600 complaints in 20 hours.
