Universal health care reform launched in 2013 improved access to health services. It was also expected to reduce financial risks associated with out-of-pocket costs of healthcare for the population. However, according to the 2015 household budget survey, there was no significant decline in the share of households that incur impoverishing effects of out-of-pocket expenditures.[1] On the contrary, based on the 2017 UNICEF survey[2] the share of these households even increased. The expansion of universal health care did not seem to have eased the out-of-pocket expenditures for households. There is a need to find sustainable ways of financing healthcare without compromising sound macroeconomic management, which is necessary for continued economic growth to generate resources for government spending.

[1] World Bank Group, Georgia – From Reformer to Performer, A Systematic Country Diagnostic, 2018, p. 14

2 United Nations Children’s Fund, The Well-Being of Children and Their Families in Georgia: Georgia Welfare Monitoring Survey Fifth Stage 2017, Tbilisi, 2018, p. 123

__________________________________

Dr. Nino Mamulashvili

Program Coordinator

WHO Country Office Georgia

Office location: 81 Vasil Barnov Street, 0179 Tbilisi, Georgia

Mailing address: UN House, 9 Rapiel Eristavi Street, 0179 Tbilisi, Georgia

Mobile: +995 599 567 244

E-mail: mamulashvilin@who.int

GPN: 74212