The state health insurance system will be introduced from October 1 in Tashkent and the Syrdarya region, and from January 1, 2025 — in Karakalpakstan, Gazeta.uz reports.

In other regions of Uzbekistan, the state health insurance system is planned to be introduced by the end of 2026.

“Funds generated from taxes of the population will be accepted as insurance premiums. They will be allocated to the State Health Insurance Fund, which will finance delivered medical services and provision of medicines to the population within the guaranteed medical care”, explained Eldor Odilov, Director of the “Health Project Center”.

Plans to introduce compulsory health insurance in the country and development of a corresponding law were mentioned in the presidential decree on the development of the private sector in healthcare in April 2017. The presidential decree d/d December 2018 provided for gradual introduction of compulsory health insurance from January 1, 2021. On December 1, 2020, the State Health Insurance Fund was established.

In December 2022, it was decided that state health insurance would be introduced in Tashkent from 2023, and later in other regions. In early 2023, digitalization of medical institutions began. In the presidential decree d/d September 2023, the end of 2026 was set as the completion date for introduction of health insurance, the source writes.