The Albanian Health Insurance Institute was established by Law no. 7870, dated 13.10.1994 On Health Insurance in the Republic of Albania. When first established it only funded drugs. It is now the single payer for the Albanian healthcare system. It took over the costs of primary care in 2007 and hospitals in 2009. Its budget has increased from 2.68 billion

lek Lek or LEK may refer to: * Lek mating, mating in a lek, a type of animal territory in which males of a species gather * Albanian lek, the currency of Albania * Lek (magazine), a Norwegian softcore pornographic magazine * Lek (pharmaceutical comp ...

in 2006, to 4.64 billion in 2007, and 20.7 billion in 2011. There is a list of 477 drugs which are reimbursed. Rates of reimbursement vary from 50% to 100% dependent on social categories of patients. The fund covers primary care and some of the costs of hospital care.

Copayment A copayment or copay (called a gap in Australian English) is a fixed amount for a covered service, paid by a patient to the provider of service before receiving the service. It may be defined in an insurance policy and paid by an insured person ea ...

s on both were introduced in 2008. It is funded by a 3.4% charge on gross salaries and supplied 74.1% of the public expenditure on health in 2013, the balance being funded from general taxation. Hospital services such as scanning are free for children up to 12 years old, people who are totally disabled, war veterans and patients with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. Other patients may have to make a 10%

copayment A copayment or copay (called a gap in Australian English) is a fixed amount for a covered service, paid by a patient to the provider of service before receiving the service. It may be defined in an insurance policy and paid by an insured person ea ...

, but must be referred by a general practitioner. Small contributions are also required for outpatient or inpatient treatment. The rate of the health insurance contribution is a highly visible political decision. It is also administratively linked to the collection of social security contributions, which are much higher, and so increase the incentive to avoid them. Trust in the health system is low and the rate of informal payments is high.

References

{{Reflist Medical and health organizations based in Albania