Comparing the Divide: Income dictates access to health care in the capital cities of Russia and the United States, where lawmakers debate policy mere miles from some of the countrys most underserved communities. Russias Gini coefficient, at 0.420, is actually better than that of Washington, D.C. at 0.435.

MOSCOW Pensioner Galina Nikolaeva, 65, cries with affection when she recalls how she was looked after when she suffered a seizure on New Years Eve.

If I hadnt made it to this hospital, I wouldnt be alive anymore. Im sure of this. I believe the Lord sent me here, says Nikolaeva, whose 8000-ruble ($264) monthly pension does not allow her to afford even low-budget state care.

Nikolaeva was admitted to Saint Alexei, a respected Moscow hospital financed by the state and the Russian Orthodox Church that provides free medical care. She doesnt think she would have survived her latest run of bad health without what she calls the dedication and love of the medical staff.

This isnt empty praise, Nikolaeva says. I am just saying what it is like. And I am in a position to judge Ive been in and out of hospitals for the last 25 years.

Russia's Constitution guarantees free health care for everyone, but many Russians say the reality is not so egalitarian. They say that health care is divided into two camps: those who can afford private clinics or paid state treatment; and those who must queue for crowded and second-rate care if they cannot draw together the necessary funds.

Since the Soviet collapse, years of unbridled western-style capitalism driven by high oil prices have transformed Russia, still the worlds largest energy exporter, but many believe it has mostly enriched the wealthiest slice of society while the majority remains little better off. Though in Soviet times personal wealth was kept well out of sight, Russia today is rife with ostentatious displays of personal riches.

The disparity in health care access reflects what analysts call a widening gulf between the rich and the poor in a country with a minimum wage of $170 a month but which has almost a hundred dollar billionaires. Those billionaires own 30 percent of all the country's personal assets, according to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report.

A volunteer dries Galina Nikolaeva's hair at Saint Alexei Hospital in Moscow. (Yuri Kozyrev/GlobalPost)

Russias Gini coefficient the standard measure of income inequality ranks Russia as more equal than the United States and the four other BRICS countries. But Russia performs well on this ranking in part because the government handed citizens their apartments in a mass privatization effort after the Soviet Unions collapse.

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Health care disparity reveals Russia's income inequality crisis