the amount of funds in the compulsory medical insurance system decreased by 14.6%

The volume of funds in the compulsory medical insurance system (CHI), intended to pay for the treatment of the population, decreased by 14.6% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2022, follows from the statistics of the Bank of Russia. In absolute terms, this amount of expenses amounted to 602.3 billion rubles. Most of it (564.1 billion rubles) was received by medical insurance organizations from the territorial funds of compulsory medical insurance.

The reduction in spending noted by the Central Bank is most likely caused by changes in the spread of respiratory diseases, primarily coronavirus. Last year, one of the peaks of the penetration of new strains of COVID-19 occurred at the end of winter and the beginning of spring, that is, in the first quarter. The decrease in the amount of funds spent does not indicate a reduction in the budget of the MHI system as a whole. According to the law on the budget of the federal compulsory medical insurance fund for 2023, its revenues will amount to 3.135 trillion rubles, which is 12% more than in 2022. The fund’s expenses will grow a little more – by 14%, to 3.2 trillion rubles.

The main part of the funds spent in the first quarter to pay for treatment (91.6%, or 551.9 billion rubles) was distributed among the ten largest medical insurance organizations (26 companies in total operated in the sector). They account for 91.9% of all those insured in the MHI system, the total number of which now stands at 142.25 million people. Since the connection of the annexed regions to the CHI system has just begun, this figure probably does not include policies issued to residents of these territories.

The leader in terms of funding for compulsory medical insurance in the first quarter was the company “SK Sogaz-Med” – it accumulated 33.5% (202 billion rubles) of all funds intended to pay for medical care. The company made 35% of all payments for medical care to the insured – a total of 43.8 million people. In second place is the Medical Joint-Stock Insurance Company (81 billion rubles, 20 million insured). On the third – “Capital Medical Insurance” (73 billion rubles, 22.2 million people). It should be noted that the large gap between the leader in the medical insurance market within the framework of compulsory medical insurance, even within the top three, indicates the consolidation of this market, which reduces competition for the insured among its players.

Anastasia Manuylova