Expenditures of extra-budgetary state funds of compulsory medical insurance for regional health care delivery in the context of age groups

The ability to maintain health at a high level and receive the necessary assistance timely is one of the foundations of social well-being in the modern world. At the same time, human and population needs for health care change during life: at certain periods, health problems become more acute, and therefore a person especially needs the help of medical services. This is relevant not only at the individual level, but also from the standpoint of public administration: for rational allocation of available resources and formation of an effective health protection policy, it is necessary to have reliable data on the needs for health care of different categories of population. The purpose of the research is to identify differences in the volume and structure of public resources spent on health care between the age groups of the region’s population. To achieve this goal, we have used data on the actual costs of the Vologda Oblast Territorial Fund of Compulsory Medical Insurance by age group and type of health care. The work has found that the largest amount of health care costs falls on children under 4 years of age (9% of the total amount of extra-budgetary funds) and the elderly aged 60 to 69 years (20% of the total costs). The novelty of the research is to identify differences in the current costs of health care delivery to different age groups in the profile of its types. There is a tendency to reduce the cost of outpatient health care from younger to older age groups. And vice versa: the total health care costs for elderly and “long-lived” categories contains an everincreasing proportion of health care costs outside of medical organizations. The practical significance of the article lies in the fact that the results will allow laying out expenditures in health service more balanced.