It seemed that the people would rise up when the decision was made to reform the existing benefits for certain categories of vulnerable segments of the population. Let's remember how it was and what it has led to today.
Monetization law: the main reasons for its adoption
Last year marked its tenth anniversary, probably one of the most noisy laws adopted by the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Monetization is something that only the lazy did not talk about. Benefits were canceled for many segments of the population, and it seemed that the welfare of pensioners would instantly fall several times in their indicators.
The law on the monetization of benefits was adopted in 2004 and prophesied fundamental changes in the system of providing assistance to socially vulnerable groups of the population. The concept was:
- minimal intervention of officials in the processes of providing assistance to those who need it;
- improve the welfare of the population by canceling the "empty promises" and offsetting this reform in the form of banknotes;
- the monetization ratio should increase significantly, and the country's financial potential will become more stable;
- tariffs for utilities will become more affordable for all segments of the population;
- and most importantly, regional bodies will have their own powers, in which the federal sector of government does not interfere.
Real government proposals
According to the results of the adopted Law on Monetization, citizens belonging to socially vulnerable segments of the population were divided into two categories: those who are taken care of by the regional authorities and those who are taken care of by the federal authorities.
The latter began to finance the expenses of the heroes of Socialist Labor, the USSR, holders of the Orders of Labor Glory, Chernobyl victims, as well as relatives and direct participants in the Great Patriotic War. The rest was taken care of by the regional authorities.
These citizens were deprived of benefits for free travel, medical supplies and others. However, in return they received compensation (which ranges from 150-1500 Russian rubles), subsidies for utilities and other additional payments.
What were the difficulties in implementing the bill
First of all, the monetization rate in the early years did not rise as much as expected. This happened due to the fact that the regional budget did not receive proper funding from the state. Since monetization is a complex program, it was necessary to work on this issue several years before the introduction of the bill. Therefore, the implementation of the planned reform did not go so smoothly and cloudlessly, and in some regionsthere are still those who have benefits.
Waves of protest swept across the country. And the reason for this is only an insufficiently comprehensive approach to the implementation of the bill. Moreover, the information base was so weak that the vast majority of beneficiaries had no idea about the amount of their own compensation.
Monetization of the economy: negative aspects
Undoubtedly, if we evaluate the project from the point of view of the state, then it is quite economically justified - why not? For the financial stability of the country, only for the benefit of the reinforcement of the money supply.
However, who will think about the main objects of the bill - directly beneficiaries? For them, monetization is the deprivation of that very confidence in the future. Protests were held not just because of the harmfulness of pensioners and other members of the vulnerable segments of the population. The amount of compensation is really so meager that it is even impossible to cover travel expenses, let alone medical self-sufficiency.
In the first year of the existence of the law, a social survey was conducted. Only a third of the respondents were confident that the reforms can actually lead to positive results.
Positives
In the initial period of the introduction of the bill, it was hard to believe that among the vulnerable segments of the population there is such a category of citizens for whom monetization is a completely positive change that has brought improvements in their well-being. Let's remember thosebeneficiaries who live in rural areas.
These people do not use public transport, so they do not need free travel. And they don't need benefits for installing a landline telephone at all, since they do not have the opportunity to draw a line to their home. This category of citizens received at least some increase in pensions, even if insignificant. Therefore, for them, the monetization of benefits is not such a detrimental phenomenon.
As for city beneficiaries, they also did not get lost and suffer from innovations in legislation. They started claiming their own disability as this category has the highest compensation rate.
Ten years later: monetization today
After a considerable period of time, it must be said that the monetization of benefits was the right decision, but most experts note that the bill was adopted not quite on time. Ten years ago, the Russian economy was not ready for such reforms due to a significant budget deficit.
But now, as years of experience show, many of those categories of citizens who were given money instead of benefits still chose the first. And this is important. Because, taking an active part in improving the economic situation of the country, our people are conscious for the benefit of the fatherland. It is important that ten years was enough for people to understand a lot and get used to, albeit to such painful, at first glance, changes.
