Importance The problem of informal payment for medical care, which has assumed the particular acuteness in the transition period of the Russian economy, remains relevant at present as well. The informal payments have a number of negative consequences: they reduce the health care system transparency; they also result in unequal treatment of medical personnel to those who can pay more informally and to those who are not able to carry out informal payments. The informal payments constitute a barrier to quality medical care. Objectives The purpose of the present study, which continues the study of the foreign and Russian economists, is the analysis of the causes and socio-economic factors that encourage the Russian citizens to carry out an informal payment for medical care in the current economic conditions. To achieve the target goals, we have analyzed the statistical and sociological data and have built three specifications of logistic regression to determine the specification of the individual characteristics of the people inclined to carry out informal payment. Methods The study showed that high incomes and availability of voluntary health insurance policy (VHIP) make the greatest contribution to the change in the probability of selection of an informal payment for out-patient treatment. At the same time, the likelihood of informal payment is practically not related with the individual characteristics of a person (gender, age, availability of children). Results Based on those calculations, we concluded that the informal payments for health care in our country is connected with the individual characteristics of a person, and with the organization of health care and the modern institutional environment, and the reduction of the size of the informal payment is only possible by modifying the system of health care arrangement in our country. Conclusions and Relevance The findings can be used when formulating the modernization directions and for Russian health care reform.
Keywords: informal payment, healthcare, medical aid, out-patient treatment
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