ИСТИНА

People’s ability to receive medical care is considered as one of the basic notions that underline aims and objectives, institutional arrangements in health care system and its outcomes. The Russian leadership has set ambitious goals for the health system. In one of his public speeches Russian President explicitly stated that "the future of Russia depends on education and health". In May 2018 several Presidential Decrees were issued that later materialised in the national programmes in major public policy areas including health care. National programme on health care sets targets to increase the average life expectancy to 78 years by 2024 and to 80 years by 2030; stabilize population growth; reduce mortality rates from major deceases that contribute to high mortality rates, first of all cardio vascular and cancer, develop primary care, speed up innovations in health care, including introduction of IT. Coverage in Russia is almost universal – probably a reminiscent of the Soviet past – as every citizen is eligible to get medical treatment, publicly financed and organized to include a wide range of services from health promotion and prevention to treatment, rehabilitation and recently palliative care. However people’s everyday experiences with health care system reveal that receiving quality medical treatment on time faces a number of difficulties as it depends on a wide range of factors often referred to as “barriers to access”. The aim of the paper is to evaluate access to health care in Russia in order to identify if almost universal coverage is translated into real opportunity to receive medical care.