Health Economics: Comparing Russian & Australian Healthcare Systems

This report analyzes the Russian healthcare system, highlighting key issues such as personnel problems (incompetent specialists, low salaries, poor working conditions), insufficient funding, and inadequate infrastructure. It discusses the Russian government's role in providing free healthcare services through the Obligatory Medical Insurance (OMI) system. The report then compares the Russian healthcare system to the Australian healthcare system, noting differences in expenditure and private healthcare support, while also pointing out similarities such as free public healthcare and income-based contributions. The report recommends increased government investment in healthcare, personnel training, and infrastructure improvements to enhance healthcare outcomes in Russia. Desklib provides this and many other solved assignments for students.

RUNNING HEAD: HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEMS 1
Health economics and comparative Health systems
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HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEMS 2
Issues facing the Russian Healthcare system
During the group discussion, I learnt various issues that affect the Russian healthcare
system. The three major problems facing the Russian healthcare include personnel issues such as
incompetent specialists and issues within the human resources such as low salaries, poor working
environment and shoddy training of new personnel (Cylus & Papanicolas, 2015). The other issue
facing the Russian healthcare system is insufficient funding of healthcare and insufficient
infrastructure, medicine supplies and equipment.
The Russian government spends very less on healthcare. According to different studies,
the amount allocated for healthcare in 2014 was only 5.9% of the Gross Domestic Product
(Gvosdev, 2017). This was very low as compared to other countries within the OECD that spend
as much as 9.3%.In the Russian healthcare system, the salaries of the healthcare workers still

HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEMS 3
remains relatively low. It is estimated to be 10 times less than other members of the OECD
(Jakovljevic, 2014). The number of the healthcare workers in Russia are also low. According to
the statistics in 2014, the number of physicians was 580,431.On the other hand, the total number
of health workers was 1,287,659 with a nurse to doctor ratio of 1:2.3(Jakovljevic, Groot, &
Souliotis, 2016).A study conducted in 2014 also established that majority of the public hospitals
in Russia are polyclinics that were set up before 1940 and there has been no efforts to improve
on their basic infrastructure as well as amenities .The recommendation in this case would
therefore to encourage the Russian government to spend or invest more in healthcare for better
outcomes. The government should also invest heavily in training healthcare personnel and
improving on the infrastructure and amenities.
Role of government in providing healthcare services
The Russian Government has different roles in regards to providing healthcare in the
countries. The government provides free health services in all public hospitals. This is made
possible through the 2-3% tax that is levied to all employees (Jakovljevic, 2015). The tax is
collected through the Obligatory Medical Insurance (OMI) that was established in 1996.
Comparison of Russian healthcare system to the Australian healthcare system.
When we look at expenditure between the two countries, Australia spends more as
compared to Russia. In 2014 for example, Australia spent 9.3% of the Gross Domestic Product
towards the healthcare while Russia only spent only 5.9% (Jakovljevic, Potapchik, Popovich,
Barik, & Getzen, 2016).In Australia, the private healthcare sector is usually supplemented by the
public health whereby the Australian government funds up to 30% of any private health
insurance premium. This is contrary in Russia where the government supports public health

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alone. The similarity between the two countries however is the fact that in both the countries, the
healthcare services are free of charge in public facilities. In both countries, employees contribute
part of their income towards healthcare (Kalmikov & Rekhtina, 2016) .In Australia, 2% of the
taxable income is contributed to Medicare while in Russia,2-3% is contributed to the Obligatory
Medical Insurance.
References

HEALTH ECONOMICS AND COMPARATIVE HEALTH SYSTEMS 5
Cylus, J., & Papanicolas, I. (2015). An analysis of perceived access to health care in Europe:
How universal is universal coverage? Health Policy, 119(9), 1133-1144.
doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2015.07.004
Gvosdev, N. K. (2017). RUSSIA in The National Interest. doi:10.4324/9781315128870
Jakovljevic, M. (2014). The key role of the leading emerging BRIC markets in the future of
global health care. Serbian Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research, 15(3),
139-143. doi:10.5937/sjecr1403139j
Jakovljevic, M., Groot, W., & Souliotis, K. (2016). Editorial: Health Care Financing and
Affordability in the Emerging Global Markets. Frontiers in Public Health, 4.
doi:10.3389/fpubh.2016.00002
Jakovljevic, M. M. (2015). Comparison of historical medical spending patterns among the
BRICS and G7. Journal of Medical Economics, 19(1), 70-76.
doi:10.3111/13696998.2015.1093493
Jakovljevic, M., Potapchik, E., Popovich, L., Barik, D., & Getzen, T. E. (2016). Evolving
Health Expenditure Landscape of the BRICS Nations and Projections to 2025. Health
Economics, 26(7), 844-852. doi:10.1002/hec.3406
Kalmikov, N. N., & Rekhtina, N. V. (2016). The Health-Care System Issues and Prospects in
the Russian Federation. Biology and Medicine, 08(04). doi:10.4172/0974-
8369.1000301