CIVIL LAW AND CIVIL PROCEDURE

Another phase of excessive state intervention in civil circulation: the case of medical services procurement contracts

Abstract

This article examines, on the basis of a real civil law dispute, the problem of the correlation between private and public law in regulating relations in the field of financing healthcare entities and the provision of medical services. In the contemporary context, there is a discernible trend toward the tightening of state regulation in the healthcare sector through the expansion of state control and supervision not only over public healthcare institutions but also over private ones. In this regard, a legitimate question arises as to the extent to which the expansion of state intervention in civil circulation in the provision of medical services is justified. Does such intervention contravene the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Entrepreneurial Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and other legislative acts guaranteeing the freedom of private enterprise? Answers to these and related questions are presented in this article.

As a result of the conducted research, the authors conclude that the expansive interpretation by supervisory authorities of their powers in the sphere of private healthcare financing – without due regard to the legal nature of the funds received and internal corporate legal relations – leads to violations of constitutional guarantees of private property and the principle of freedom of contract. Such practice necessitates consistent correction both at the level of judicial interpretation and through the improvement of mechanisms for delineating public-law control and private-law autonomy.