ASTANA – Kazakhstan plans to launch by 2020 a set of additional health benefits within its national healthcare programme, which citizens can pay for themselves or with health insurance.
“As envisaged by law, the system will start operating in 2019 or 2020. In any case, there will be two packages of medical services. The first package is SVMA (State Volume of Medical Assistance), which will be provided to the entire population of Kazakhstan, including permanent residents. On top of that, for those who are insured, a list of services will be provided within the medical insurance system which are not covered by SVMA and medical insurance. These are paid services that citizens will pay out of their own pockets, or to which they can contract part of voluntary medical insurance,” Elena Bakhmutova, chair of the non-profit Fund of Social Health Insurance, said.
The additional services will launch with the launch of the compulsory social health insurance (CSHI), Bakhmutova said. Citizens will need to be part of the national healthcare system to utilise the additional services.
Citizens should understand these conditions so that there is a motivation for participating in the health insurance system, Bakhmutova said.
“Precisely because additional services will be covered from this list, one must be insured, either by themselves or through other channels, as employers or the state do,” she concluded.
