Balancing the state and the market: Russia's adoption of obligatory medical insurance

Russia's challenge in reforming the system of healthcare inherited from the Soviet Union has been to preserve the positive elements while eliminating inappropriate incentives and structural deficiencies. Reviews relevant details of the Soviet system of health care, traces the history of market-oriented reform of that system, outlines theoretically the ways in which health care markets are imperfect, and analyses the dimensions along which the Russian programme of obligatory medical insurance has failed to compensate for those imperfections with an appropriate balance of market forces and government intervention. (Quotes from original text)