Overview

• The State Duma Health Committee recommended the government bill for a first reading, moving forward a proposal submitted on September 29 to amend Russia’s mandatory medical insurance law.
• The bill would let governors transfer functions now performed by private medical insurers to territorial OMC funds with decisions taken at least a year in advance, transfers set for a minimum of three years, execution from the start of a fiscal year, and required notifications to the Health Ministry and the federal OMC fund.
• Labor migrants would become eligible for an OMC policy only after accumulating five years of insured employment instead of three, with the Social Fund obliged to notify OMC funds about status changes and attainment of the five‑year threshold by the next day.
• The draft sets special financial rules for residents insured in Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, including a differentiation coefficient for calculating contributions for the nonworking population.
• Responding to patient‑group objections, the Health Ministry said independent quality reviews will be carried out by accredited physician‑experts from a national registry and reported declining patient complaints at federal medical centers in 2023–2025.