Sanatorium and Health Resort Treatment as Social Support: a Comparative Legal Analysis

Abstract

The generally-recognized principles and international norms of law, the Constitution of the Russian Federation enshrine the right of every person to health protection. However, implementation of this right often faces difficulties. The analysis of the legislation of the Russian Federation, and that of the post-Soviet states, is carried out on the example of social support for certain categories of citizens, including free sanatorium and health resort treatment, in order to identify similarities and differences, as well as legal structures that can be perceived by Russian social security law with a focus on increasing its effectiveness. A differentiated approach to determining the frequency of sanatorium and health resort treatment, its free character for some former beneficiaries, is proposed. The conclusion is substantiated that such proposals will make it possible to implement the principle of social justice, which presupposes an equal, but not equalizing approach to social protection and social support. This principle assumes that within the framework of society the disabled people must take into account not only their individual interests and needs, but also the interests and needs of other citizens and society as a whole. It was concluded as a result of the study that a change in the procedure of providing sanatorium and health resort treatment, as well as the scope of services being provided on the basis of a differentiated approach, will allow not only to implement the principle of social justice, not only to proclaim the right to such treatment in order to protect the health of citizens, but make it accomplishable too.