The Republic of Armenia plans to sign a €102 million loan agreement with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to implement a universal health insurance program. This draft decision is on the agenda of the upcoming government meeting.
According to the government’s press service, the program aims to improve the quality and accessibility of primary healthcare, enhance the efficiency of healthcare expenditures, and reduce financial barriers to accessing medical services.
The program comprises the following components:
Results Area 1: Improving Quality of Healthcare This component aims to improve the quality of primary healthcare services for the prevention, detection, and monitoring of major non-communicable diseases that are most prevalent in Armenia through service delivery reforms.
Results Area 2: Enhancing Efficiency of Healthcare Expenditures This component aims to enhance the efficiency of healthcare expenditures by eliminating critical spending incentives, particularly the high costs of pharmaceutical products, through reform measures.
Results Area 3: Reducing Financial Barriers to Accessing Medical Services This component includes reform measures such as increasing state funding for the universal health insurance (AHA) program, establishing an operational and management framework by creating an independent public procurement organization and its governing board to facilitate effective management of AHA funds and strategic procurement of medical services, as well as developing a cost assessment tool and revising the medical benefits package.
The loan agreement project between the Republic of Armenia and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development will create additional financial obligations for Armenia’s state budget.
The state system of universal mandatory health insurance in Armenia is currently not in operation. Its implementation is planned within the framework of a five-year strategy for the development of the healthcare system being developed by the Ministry of Health.
