Latvia's governing coalition agrees on state-run health insurance scheme

Latvia's center-right government coalition on Monday clinched an agreement on a state-run health insurance scheme, which will require additional allocations in the government budget, said Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis.

The coalition is determined to work out a financing solution that would not increase the overall tax burden by April 1, 2017.

The premier explained that instead of making mandatory health insurance reliant on private insurance companies, the government plans to invest more resources in the health care system, which means that the new scheme would not put additional financial burden on residents.

Although coalition partners agreed on some corrections in the health care financing scheme proposed by Health Minister Anda Caksa, her proposal was approved as a whole at Monday's meeting.

The Kucinskis-led government now has until April 1, 2017 to provide the necessary source of funding for the plan. The completion of the reform will require much more expensive debating, Kucinskis said.

Explaining the proposed system's advantages, the prime minister said that the state emergency medical service will not have to deal with uninsured patients, as the state would be responsible for the accessibility of the whole range of health care services. Like before, private insurance companies will be involved to provide additional financing.

Although the government has yet to agree on concrete sums, it is determined to increase health spending to 14 percent of total budget expenditure by 2023. The launch of the reform is also expected to ease the situation in Latvia's struggling health sector as the ongoing reform will make Latvia eligible to EU funding. Endit