Analyzing Success and Failure of Two Health Reforms in Independent Georgia

Abstract

Having worked in 2013 under tuition of famous German Health Economist, Professor Dr. Mathias Graf von der Schulenburgat Hanover Leibnitz University, being supported by German Academic Exchange Service-DAAD, as a Guest Professor at theInstitute of Insurance Business Administration IVBL, I tried to analyze two health reforms in the history of independent Georgia.Health reform policy analyze is important for two reasons:“It can help explain why certain health issues receive political attention,and others do not, such as by enabling identification of which stakeholders may support or resist policy reforms, and why”(Buse, Dickinson, Gilson, & Murray, 2007).Two health reforms were undertaken by Georgian government. The first in 1994-1995, when the country started to buildsome mix from social health Insurance (SHI) and taxed finance (TF) system, but failed due to the lack of financing, propermanagement and bribing. And the second in 2004-2007, when the new, more private forms of health finance and service deliveringwere implemented. The model of 2004-2007 was totally new and it can be entitled as a Model of Bendukidze (MB),since Georgian vice Prime Minister Bendukidze supported its birth and implementation into health system of the country. Theauthor of this article being hired by Georgian Government as a Health Economist in 2007 was also part of health reform teamestablishing its main strategy.Because two totally different types of health reforms had already implemented in Georgia during such a short period, itwould be interesting to assess their main features and reasons for choosing these models of healthcare among other possiblealternatives and discuss their effectiveness for the country.The article is based on a literature review of scientific publications about health of Georgia and focus group interviewsundertaken in 2013 at international Black Sea University.