Web-economic-crisis-health-systems-and-health-web

Belarus
Aleksander Grakovich and Irina Novik
Economic trends
• Belarus has been less affected by the financial crisis than other European
countries, although real per capita growth slowed in 2009 to 1.7%.
Government expenditure as a share of GDP decreased substantially in
2010. Since 2010, health spending as a share of the government budget
has increased to the European mean (Belarus: Fig. 1).
Policy responses
• Belarus Fig. 2 gives the trends in per capita spending on health.
Changes to public funding for the health system
• Because of the economic crisis and the 2010 devaluation of the Belarusian
rouble, government spending on health has fallen from 4.3% of GDP
in 2010 to 3.7% in 2012 (a decrease of 13% in per capita government
spending on health in dollars between 2010 and 2011).
• High-technology medical and educational services for foreigners
raised US$ 18.6 million in off-budget revenue for health in 2010 and
US$ 21.4 million in 2011.
Changes to health coverage
Population (entitlement)
• No response reported.
The benefits package
• No response reported.
User charges
• Drugs not normally covered can be registered and prescribed on preferential
terms to individual patients deemed to be in particular need (2009).
• Chernobyl victims and disabled people (previously exempt) must
pay 10% of the cost of prescribed drugs and bandages on the positive
list (2009).
• Pensioners and children under 3 years (previously exempt) must pay for
prescription drugs (2011; policy reversed for children in 2012).