Draft health insurance law adds benefits for patients

Conference attendees from health departments and facilities said they agreed
with the expansion of health care services included in the draft Health
Insurance Law, which has been amended by the .

Ngo Xuan The from Binh Dinh Province General Hospital said: “I see that more
benefits for insured patients are stipulated in the draft” on the health
insurance fund.

Under the proposed amendments, the health insurance fund would cover insured
patients’ costs for preventive therapies for chronic diseases or people with
HIV; rehabilitation; periodic pregnancy examinations, prenatal and newborn
screening; screening for diagnosis of non-communicable chronic diseases;
healthcare services provided at home for seniors and people with disabilities;
and products for treatment of malnutrition for children under six years old.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, Director of the Dak Nong Provincial Department of Health,
said: “This regulation will match the ministry’s establishment of health
clinics called ‘Family Doctors’ at the grassroots level. The clinics will
improve the quality of primary care for local people.”

“Expanding covered healthcare services for insured patients will be good if the
health fund has enough to cover the expenditures,” Huong said.

However, she noted that the low cost for health insurance cards may not be
sufficient for the national health insurance fund to cover. In addition,
hospital fees have increased, she said.

Dr Nguyen Minh Tung, deputy head of the Bac Lieu provincial Department of
Health, said that the current cost to buy health insurance is equal to 4.5 percent
of basic wages for people employed in companies.

Under the regulations, the costs are staggered, with the fee for one person in
a family higher than the fee for the other members of the family.

However, Tung said the costs should be increased to 20 percent of the basic
wage instead of 4.5 percent.

Huong said this would not affect the poor and near-poor whose coverage would be
paid by the local health insurance fund.

Le Van Kham, director of the Health Insurance Department under the Ministry of
Health, said the health insurance fund would ensure sufficient funds for
insured patients’ medical examinations and treatment next year.  

Pham Van Toan, deputy head of the insurance department, said the cost for
buying health insurance, however, would have to increase in the future to
achieve a balanced fund.

Other issues discussed at the meeting concerned problems related to Vietnam Social
Security’s payments for insured patients to health facilities and independent
health insurance assessments.

Delegates said that an independent health insurance assessment agency separate
from Vietnam Social Security should be created to address this issue.

According to the department, the number of insured people this year is 89.8 percent
of the population, compared to 71.3 percent in 2014. The figure has already
exceeded the Government’s goal, which was to have 80 percent of the population
covered by the end of 2020./.