Is the Russian system of compulsory health insurance an insurance one?

The subject of the article is a discussion of the grounds for qualifying the system of compulsory health insurance (CHI) created in Russia as an insurance system, which is questioned by many experts. The article sys tematizes theoretical and methodological approaches to the description of social health insurance systems. A comparative analysis of the evolution of national systems of compulsory health insurance and systems of budgetary financing of health care was carried out from the standpoint of considering institutional changes as strengthening or weakening three types of regulation (state, societal, private), which ensure the performance of the functions of revenue collection, pooling of funds, purchasing of services. On this basis, general characteristics of modern models of social health insurance, which distinguish them from budgetary systems, are highlighted. The Russian CHI system can be qualified as a social insurance system in terms of the formation and pooling of financial resources, but as a hybrid, combining elements of the insurance and budgetary systems, in terms of the purchase of medical care.