Civilnet
Armenia will launch a mandatory health insurance system in 2026, Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan announced in an interview with Factor TV, ending years of delay and setting the stage for a sweeping overhaul of the country’s healthcare financing model.
The reform, long in the making, aims to ensure universal coverage by 2027. Under the draft law circulated in 2023, citizens will pay an annual premium of approximately $420, with vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and the disabled covered by the state. The legislative package is currently under government review and, once adopted, will authorize the phased introduction of a unified insurance system across the country.
Plans for mandatory health insurance were first presented in 2019 by then-Health Minister Arsen Torosyan, who proposed a system funded through a 6% payroll tax. That proposal was met with strong opposition from Finance Minister Atom Janjughazyan, who warned that the tax would disproportionately burden salaried workers and run counter to the government’s stated goal of lowering the overall tax load.
The original launch date of 2022 was abandoned following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. In early 2023, Minister Avanesyan again pledged a phased rollout starting that year, with pensioners added in 2025 and full implementation by 2027. However, by late 2023, the government had neither approved the insurance law nor allocated sufficient resources for its execution.
The government’s 2023 decision to approve the “Concept for the Introduction of Comprehensive Health Insurance” set out a three-phase timeline: preparation in 2023, piloting in 2024–2026, and mandatory coverage starting in 2027. The program envisions a unified insurance package regardless of income, with coverage varying only by age and gender. To qualify for benefits, insured individuals must also undergo annual preventive medical checkups.According to official justifications, Armenia’s public health expenditure remains among the lowest in the region—just 1.4% of GDP compared to an average of 5–6% in peer countries. The health ministry argues that without a stable funding mechanism, Armenia’s healthcare system will continue to suffer from fragmented services, underpaid staff, and unequal access. A new insurance fund and national register are planned to manage the program and ensure accountability.
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