Health in the service of the state: Dmitry Davydov proposed a method of replenishing the budget

Health care for the benefit of the nation and the budget

One of the proposals within the framework of Dmitry Davydov’s project was reforms in the healthcare sector. We are talking about the fight against cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, malignant tumors and chronic lung disease. They arise as a result of proven behavioral risk factors, including smoking and unhealthy diet.

According to the Ministry of Health, in 2016 direct medical expenses and disability benefits, as well as indirect ones in the form of GDP losses due to premature death, reached 46.1 billion and 375.28 billion rubles, respectively. An unbalanced diet and excessive consumption of salt and red meat provoke up to 390 billion rubles in losses.

According to Dmitry Davydov, in order to solve the problem, it is necessary to reduce the risk of developing diseases due to bad habits and improve the method for detecting heart attacks and strokes.

The fight against smoking is proposed to be implemented by raising the minimum age (when selling tobacco products) to 21 years, increasing fines for involving citizens who have not reached the legal age into smoking, and establishing a ban on the sale of nicotine-containing products for sellers illegally selling cigarettes.

Based on the Singapore model. There, similar measures have significantly reduced the number of smokers. Now the share of the smoking population of the country is 10.1%, in Russia – 20.3%.

The effect will be achieved in Russia in five years. The restrictions will halve state budget expenditures and amount to 23 billion rubles a year. GDP losses will also decrease: from 375.3 to 187.6 billion. In 2021, the federal budget of Russia was 19% of the size of GDP. If we calculate 19% of 187.6 billion rubles, it turns out that the effect for the budget due to the reduction of indirect losses will be 36 billion rubles.

In order to minimize the indicators of unbalanced nutrition in Russia, Dmitry Davydov proposes labeling products with a high content of sugar, salt, saturated fat and calories. Also, control over compliance with the requirements regarding the reliability of labels should be strengthened.

Health awareness will help shoppers better manage their diet. Manufacturers will be motivated to create healthy products. According to the author of 20 Ideas, the economic damage from an unbalanced diet can be reduced by 40%. And the state budget will save 76 billion rubles a year.

To reduce premature mortality, Dmitry Davydov insists on introducing artificial intelligence into ambulance services. The mechanism will allow determining cardiac arrest before the arrival of doctors. Another measure is to allow the Russians to independently carry out resuscitation procedures to increase the patient’s chances of survival.

Also, ambulances should be equipped with tools for diagnosing and treating stroke. The methods have been successfully tested in Germany, Australia, France and Denmark. Minimizing the consequences of heart attacks and strokes will save the budget 49.4 billion or 25 billion rubles, taking into account the cost of introducing technologies. In total, the proposals will reduce budget losses by 160 billion rubles annually.

“From the point of view of future prospects, these are undoubtedly important additional cash flows to the state budget. They will allow building up the potential for increasing the size of pension payments, subsidies, as well as other socially significant programs,” summed up lawyer Yuriy Kapshtyk.

Beneficial clean air

Another group of Dmitry Davydov’s initiatives is related to improving air quality in Russia. The author of the project suggested that the state encourage Russians to switch to alternative energy sources and get rid of traditional stove heating.

In addition, to control the level of gas pollution in large cities, it is proposed to fight cars that exceed the permissible environmental level. Dmitry Davydov considers it expedient to introduce a technology for scanning the traffic flow on the roads of the country in order to identify cars that exceed the permissible rate of emission of harmful substances into the air.

Cameras fixing harmful emissions are proposed to be installed at the entrances to large cities of the country. The measure will reduce the release of toxic substances and the growth of associated diseases, as well as provide the government with an effective way to control the environment.

“Prevention is always cheaper than remediation. In general, the proposed initiatives can have a positive effect as they work with the cause, not with the consequences,” says Olga Lakustova, Director of the Fund for Support and Development of Environmental and Other Socially Significant Projects “Our Foundation”.

Dmitry Davydov’s proposals that are important for the environment were also a collection against traffic jams in large cities of the country and an increase in the efficiency of police officers at the scene of an accident. The latter is proposed to be carried out with the help of special equipment – 3D scanners. The measures will reduce the burden on departmental bodies, as well as increase their productivity. Qualitative data analysis will lead to effective improvements in the road infrastructure in the country. In total, according to the estimates of the author of the project, the financial benefits from environmental proposals will bring 152 billion rubles to the budget, net of all operating costs.

The health of the country’s population is closely related to the quality of human capital. The author of the project “20 Ideas for the Development of Russia” proposes measures that will increase annual budget revenues by at least 2.02 trillion rubles. The amount is comparable to the budget of 14 regions at once. In the Belgorod region, revenues for 2022 are projected at the level of 138 billion rubles, in the Omsk region – 132.7 billion, in the Altai Territory – 144.4 billion.

Dmitry Davydov’s ideas are published in major federal media. In order to translate the proposals into practice, the full support and assistance from the authorities is needed. “If you try to evaluate the cumulative benefit from the implementation of all project proposals, it will become obvious that the total economic effect will be many times higher,” Dmitry Davydov summed up.