​LESS SERVICES FOR INSURANCE POLICY HOLDERS IN MOLDOVAN PRIVATE CLINICS

The number of services available in private clinics for medical policy holders is falling year after year, said Director General of Moldova’s largest private clinic Medpark Olga Schiopu.

In an interview to Banks & Finances Magazine, the manager says that unfortunately this is happening not because of demands from patients or from private medical institutions, but at the initiative of the National Health Insurance Company (CNAM).

“The quality of medical services should be the main indicator at selecting medical institutions, which will be providing services to patients. Unfortunately, this approach is not working in Moldova due to the fact that here, state institutions should be supported and developed. Thus, the CNAM is gradually excluding private clinics from this process”, she said.

According to Medpark top manager, only 5% (less than 300 million lei) of the CNAM 2016 annual budget worth 5.7 billion lei were directed to private sector of medical services.

“It is not excluded that in 2017, this rate will be even smaller”, Schiopu said, adding that before 2014, contracts on providing services in Medpark included 12 services, while since 2015 – just two. Thus, allocations for these services from CNAM budget have considerably fallen.

Infotag’s dossier: Since January 1, 2004, all the public medical institutions in Moldova are working on the basis of special medical insurance. The insurance fund is administrated by the CNAM, annually signing contracts with public and private institutions on services, provided on the basis of medical policy.

For 2017, CNAM expenditures are forecasted at 6.1 billion lei, 3.5 billion of which will arrive from the population in the form of medical insurance policy taxes, which account for 9% of salary and is paid in equal parts by workers and their employers. Currently, policy holders are addressing to private health institutions for services, not included in the list of services on the basis of the policy, and are paying for them 100%.