Rossiiskaya Gazeta
Who will pay for free medicine?
Supreme Court upholds right to medical benefits
A surprise Supreme Court ruling on compensation for medical expenses may prove a lifesaver for thousands of people who cannot get free prescription drugs they are entitled to.
When people eligible for free medication fail to find the drugs they need in pharmacies, they end up paying for them themselves. Is anyone responsible for reimbursing their expenses?
One woman from the Astrakhan Region decided to take the authorities to court. She demanded that the regional health insurance agency refund her the money her family spent on drugs for her disabled husband. The amount involved was significant: over 200,000 rubles (about $6,800).
Her husband, a former serviceman, had been plagued with ill health after working at the infamous Semipalatinsk test site, the main Soviet testing ground for nuclear weapons. Now he needs expensive medication for radiation sickness, which the state has undertaken to provide free of charge. However, the drugs were often simply unavailable because the regional medical authorities had failed to order them through the regional health insurance agency and the family was forced to buy them.
The insurance agency refused to reimburse their expenses and the case went to court. The initial verdict was in favor of the agency. The family appealed to the regional court and was awarded compensation of 120,000 rubles. Then the insurance agency appealed, and eventually the case reached the Supreme Court, where it took an unexpected turn.
The Supreme Court ruled that since free drugs for patients must be supplied under state contracts concluded between the local authorities and pharmacies, the responsibility must rest with the companies that won the tender to supply the medicines in each case.
Therefore, the expenses for the drugs purchased by the family in Astrakhan are to be reimbursed by the local pharmacy rather than the insurance agency.
Usually the Supreme Court does not hand down a direct verdict. This time, it set precedent by ruling in favor of the plaintiff, awarding the family 120,000 rubles in compensation.
Vremya Novostei
Burnout case? Russian agriculture after the drought
This year’s massive drought had a punishing effect on Russia’s agro-industrial sector. Although food producers and retailers, gathered in Moscow for the Fresh Food Russia-2010 trade fair, do not expect dramatic price rises, some increases are inevitable.
“The drought hit a significant proportion of regions across the country and will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the food market,” explained Vladimir Totsky from Russia’s Agro-Industrial Union. The statistics he gave made the picture even clearer: 13 million hectares of crops were destroyed, and only 63.4 million metric tons of grain were harvested. That volume will dwindle to 58-59 million metric tons after processing.
The government estimates the sector’s losses at 40 billion rubles ($1.3 billion). The buckwheat situation is particularly alarming. The latest figures put the harvest at 400,000 - 450,000 metric tons, while nationwide demand for this popular foodstuff totals 500,000-600,000 metric tons.
Analysts put today’s skyrocketing dairy product prices down to anticipated animal-fodder shortages and reduced milk yield. Although Belarus stands ready to assist Russia should this milk shortage transpire, prices for dairy products will nonetheless rise 10%-15%, said Andrei Danilenko, CEO of the dairy company Russian Farms and chief of the National Union of Milk Producers.
He explained the upcoming hike by the fact that milk had been advertised as the best cure for the effects of the smog from the forest fires, adding that meat prices would not follow suit in early 2011. Not a single link in the food-production chain wants prices to rise, said a senior Chamber of Commerce and Industry official, adding “price is key in customers’ choice of where to buy, any attempted price hikes would upset market stability.”
“Producers, food-store chains and customers all stand to lose,” echoed Alexander Borisov, head of the Commerce and Industry Chamber’s consumer market expansion committee. Market analysts put nationwide hikes in food price down to low production. Ilya Belonovsky, executive director at the Association of Retail Trade Companies, said perishables now accounted for 70%-80% of food chain stores’ turnover and that Russia had never been able to meet domestic demand for cucumbers, tomatoes and even potatoes with domestic produce.
There’s no use looking to the state for help here, warned Alexander Fomin, who sits on the Russian parliament’s agro-industrial market expert committee: “Supporting producers and keeping prices down are two mutually exclusive tasks. […] The only lever the government has is import duties: if they rise, prices rise.”
Yevgeny Sidorov, CEO of the vast Moskovsky greenhouse production facility, said it was up to chain stores to expand production, saying: “It’s about whoever’s strongest, and right now, chain stores are strongest” adding that rising electricity, gas and gasoline bills would all combine to make food more expensive in any case.
One leading poultry producer accused the state of populism and backing consumers over producers: “Instead of simply telling the public to prepare for price hikes, they ban us from raising prices,” complained Roskar head Yegor Yakovlev.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Moscow: dissatisfied middle class a modernization reserve
Sociologists have discovered a significant level of social discontent among wealthy Muscovites as opposed to the rest of Russia. A recent survey by the Moscow-based Center for Strategic Research (CSR) think tank suggests around 500,000 people are interested in protesting against the unfriendly business environment and unstable prospects.
There is a vast difference between underprivileged social groups’ discontent and that simmering among business executives and state administrators, explained Sergei Belanovsky, CSR director for social and economic research. The first group is unhappy about low incomes, growing prices and inaccessible medical services. Their loyalty grows in proportion to their income, unlike the second group: well-off people can easily afford all kinds of luxury products, travel or health services. Their discontent is rooted in limited economic freedom, the deteriorating business climate and uncertain economic prospects.
The CSR survey has revealed that the role of income growth in quelling social discontent is negligible in Moscow and estimated the number of wealthy people inclined to protest at 500,000. The bulk of them are men working in business or the civil service. Belanovsky warns against confusing his new hypothesis with the old myth of pampered Muscovites who are dissatisfied due to overindulgence.
“These people should be enthusiastic about the country’s modernization launched by President Dmitry Medvedev,” the sociologist said. However, more research is needed to confirm this theory; it is worth checking if the Moscow elite sees this modernization talk as a big scam.
Alexander Smirnov, CEO of Nobel Biocare Russia, also pointed out that people may be generally dissatisfied with the quality of available infrastructure. “Although over the past 15 years Moscow has grown to resemble developed European cities in terms of the opportunities it offers, the quality of life has in fact deteriorated,” he said. The city hall has a clear shot at boosting loyalty by solving the traffic problem and improving the road infrastructure.
However, not all analysts agree with the CSR’s interpretation of its data. “It is premature to conclude that there are large disloyal groups in Moscow,” said Irina Vorobyova from 2K Audit-Business Consultations/ Morison International. “People in Moscow make three times the average income of Russians living elsewhere. They have more property and are naturally more interested in state institutions protecting their property rights.” Although admitting that higher incomes encourage demand for a better infrastructure, education and healthcare services, she does not believe that this dissatisfaction may grow into open disloyalty.
The disloyal Moscow elite may provide a human reserve for modernization, Smirnov suggested. The modernization agenda is being pushed forward in Russia by adopting new legislation, establishing state funds and private venture companies, and attracting angel investors. What is still missing is a class of trailblazers who would have the confidence and nerve to break the existing system with its stereotypes. “Maybe it will be this disloyal group we are talking about,” he concluded.
MOSCOW, November 16 (RIA Novosti)
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