By Gevorg Tosunyan
Armenia's Universal Health Insurance Fund has acknowledged significant delays in reimbursing citizens who overpaid mandatory health insurance contributions since the system came into force in January, blaming a largely manual verification process and promising to clear most of the backlog by the end of the year.
Under Armenia's universal health insurance law, citizens who make duplicate contributions through multiple sources of income are entitled to refunds. This includes people employed by more than one employer, those who combine salaried work with self-employment, and individuals whose insurance contributions are also covered by the state through preferential programs. Once tax authorities transfer payment data to the fund, reimbursements are legally required within five working days after a one-time electronic application is submitted.
In practice, however, the deadlines are not being met.
Speaking to CivilNet, Hayk Babayan, the fund's director for finance and insurance compensation, said the reimbursement system has proven far more complex than initially anticipated.
"The refund issue is quite serious and, unfortunately, is being resolved slowly," Babayan said. "We expected to solve it during the first half of the year, but integrating different government systems has been more complicated than anticipated."
According to Babayan, the fund has received around 10,000 refund applications, although many are duplicate submissions from the same individuals. The actual number of unique applicants is estimated at roughly 8,000. The main bottleneck is that every application still requires manual verification, a process he described as financially inefficient.
The fund says it ultimately plans to automate data exchanges between the Armed electronic health platform and Armenia's tax system, allowing reimbursement amounts to be calculated and transferred automatically.
Until then, officials say they hope to process at least 11 months' worth of accumulated refunds before the end of the year, regardless of whether the work continues manually. Full automation is expected early next year, after which reimbursements should be made monthly, similar to Armenia's funded pension system.
Citizens currently have no online portal allowing them to track the status of their applications. Instead, applicants must contact the fund directly by phone. Babayan also said many applications contain technical errors, including incorrect bank account information or mistakes in payment records, which have further delayed processing. Applicants whose submissions contain errors have been advised not to file new applications but to wait for notification from the fund and resolve the issue directly.
Despite the delays, Babayan said citizens and self-employed individuals must continue paying mandatory insurance contributions while awaiting reimbursement, as duplicate payments remain a consequence of the current tax collection system. He added that many eligible citizens may not even realize they qualify for refunds, suggesting the number of overpayments could be several times higher than the roughly 8,000 applications already identified. The fund expects to begin issuing accumulated refunds from September and notify recipients by email once payments have been made.
The delays come just months after the government launched the first phase of Armenia's universal health insurance system, a reform that has generated debate over its financing and administrative readiness.
In a January interview with CivilNet, Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan dismissed concerns that the insurance fund's budget could be exhausted if demand exceeded projections. She said officials monitor spending and demand throughout the year and increase allocated funds as needed, noting that the insurance fund is legally required to maintain a reserve fund of up to 10 percent to manage higher-than-expected demand. According to Avanesyan, the reserve is expected to amount to roughly 20-30 bn drams (about $54-81 mn at 370 AMD/USD).
Also read: Armenia’s universal health insurance reform begins with key elements missing
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