The Russian healthcare system

It is admitted that compared to the Western countries there is the worst reputation of healthcare in Russia. Unfortunately, Russians get bad treatment even if they have free healthcare. In the end, we truly advise you to be sure they get private medical insurance during their trip in Russia.

Citizens in Russia used to have free healthcare with Obligatory Medical Insurance.

Fortunately, Russian employers contribute over 3 % of employees salary into a social tax and a part of this goes to a healthcare fund. But despite of this there are so many Russians who own their private medical insurance like Voluntary Health Insurance. Moreover, the best health care is normally in big cities like Moscow and Saint Petersburg than in the suburban places.

It happens just because medical care in Russia is very poor and therefore a Bloomberg Index in 2014 ranked Russia’s healthcare at the bottom of 54 other developed countries. If Russians are unable to have VHI, they have to pay bribes to get a good treatment. It is worthy to note that it is compulsory to own VHI if you want to come to Russia.

Britain and Russia has terminated the healthcare agreement since 2016. Therefore British citizens shouldn’t get free emergency treatment in Russia. It means that foreign citizens who travelling to Russia must get the necessary private medical insurance. If you do not have Voluntary Health Insurance, that would be impossible to obtain a visa or work permit.

Because of the worst quality healthcare in Russia, we advise you to accept VHI for the reasons above.