Content №3 от 2005
Reform in the Russian public health: social consequences of commercialization
Insufficient financial endowment of state obligations on supply of free medical services to the population leads to shadow activities in the sector of public health, which deepens social inequality and promotes waste of resources. The comparison of households’ incomes with their monetary expenditures on medical services and medicines through the analysis of the data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey leads us to the conclusion that these expenditures make a heavier burden just on the low-income groups. In the present situation, ironically, some curtailment of governmentally secured volume of free medical services may help recover social justice.
