Between 2002 and 2016, Georgia’s infant mortality rate fell from 31.1 to 9.5 per thousand live births. This progress has been realised in part through the Medical Insurance Programme (MIP), introduced by the Government of Georgia in 2006 to provide means tested health insurance for the poor. The MIP is administered by the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs (MoLHSA), and implemented by the Social Services Agency (SSA). MoLHSA is in charge of policy, financing and monitoring, whereas the SSA makes monthly payments to private insurers.
Under the MIP, private insurance companies, with funding from the SSA, are responsible for purchasing health care services for all eligible beneficiaries. All primary care and outpatient specialists were privatized between 2005 and 2010, with some exceptions in rural areas where a smaller number of public hospitals remain and physicians receive a stipend from the State. In accessing private services, beneficiaries can choose their own insurance company, and are not obliged to make copayment. Package entitlements are comprehensive and include urgent outpatient and inpatient treatment, child delivery costs, and a small benefit for outpatient pharmaceuticals. In order to access these services, households are required to register with the SSA. Currently about 900,000 people benefit from the MIP, largely covering the poorest 20 per cent of the population who are entitled to an extensive package of benefits through publicly funded vouchers.
While civil servants in Georgia are covered by a separate programme, workers in the formal sector are covered by social insurance and those who do not meet the MIP’s means test criteria being eligible for a more basic universal package, Georgia’s MIP represents a determined effort to invest in health care and ensure coverage of the poor. However, the majority of the population still resorts to out-of pocket payments for quality health services. The MIP benefits package is nonetheless the most comprehensive scheme the Government of Georgia offers to its poorest residents and has had a major impact on improving the financial protection of its beneficiaries, ensuring that the most vulnerable Georgians have access to health care.
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