Proposal to increase health insurance support for students to 50%

It is expected that the draft Decree will be submitted to the Government for approval on May 15 and take effect from July 1, 2025, replacing Decree No. 146/2018, Decree No. 75/2023 and Decree No. 02/2025 of the Government.

The new draft Decree focuses on 4 existing problems.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said that at the 8th Session, the 15th National Assembly passed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance.

6 notable new policies include: Amended Health Insurance Law, updating the participants; adjusting the responsibility for paying health insurance, payment methods, payment deadlines, responsibility for making a list of health insurance payers, and the validity period of the card.

Along with that, the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance stipulates on health insurance examination and treatment, including initial health insurance registration, transferring patients between health insurance medical facilities according to the technical expertise level of the Law on Health Insurance 2023. Patients can choose the initial health insurance facility as well as transfer to a health insurance facility flexibly, according to professional requirements.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan spoke at the conference.

On the other hand, the Law on Health Insurance stipulates the level of health insurance benefits when implementing the universal health insurance coverage in the direction of not distinguishing administrative boundaries by province. Accordingly, in some cases of rare diseases, serious diseases..., patients are sent directly to specialized health care facilities.

The Law on Health Insurance also adjusts the rate of expenditure for health insurance treatment, reserve expenditure and organization of health insurance activities from the amount of health insurance contributions.

In addition, the Law on Health Insurance supplements the payment mechanism for drugs and medical equipment transferred between medical facilities and payment for paraclinical service costs transferred to other facilities in case of shortage of drugs and medical equipment.

In addition, the Law on Health Insurance supplements specific regulations on late payment and evasion of health insurance payment, measures to handle these cases and many other important regulations.

To ensure timely implementation, the Ministry of Health has submitted to the Government Decree 02/2025/ND-CP detailing and amending and supplementing Decree No. 146/2018 and Decree No. 75/2023.

The Ministry of Health is continuing to complete the draft of a new Decree consisting of three basic groups of contents: Detailed regulations and instructions for the implementation of the Health Insurance Law No. 51; overcoming difficulties and problems arising in practice when implementing Decrees No. 146, No. 75 and No. 02; removing practical problems in health insurance medical examination and treatment and payment of health insurance medical examination and treatment costs.

In particular, the new draft Decree focuses on four shortcomings. These are regulations on payment in case of adjusting the size of hospital beds. Regulations on health insurance payment are implemented on donated medical equipment but cannot be established as public ownership before March 4, 2023.

Regulations on payment for drugs, medical equipment and chemicals for private health care facilities.
Stipulate the implementation roadmap and benefit rates for outpatient medical examination and treatment at basic medical examination and treatment facilities as prescribed in Point e and Point h, Clause 4, Article 22 of the Law on Health Insurance.

This is an opportunity for the health sector to review the implementation of the health insurance policy over the past time, analyze the results achieved, point out the limitations and shortcomings that need to be adjusted, and at the same time receive comments and contributions to complete the draft Decree to be submitted to the Government for consideration and promulgation.

Expected to increase 3,700 billion VND to support students paying health insurance

A representative of the Vietnam Social Security (VSS) said that by the end of 2024, the whole country will have more than 95.5 million people participating in health insurance, reaching a health insurance coverage rate of 94.29%. Of these, 24% of participants have support from the State budget (including students); the largest group is households (28%).

Referring to this issue, Deputy Director of the Department of Health Insurance, Ministry of Health Vu Nu Anh said that currently, the monthly health insurance contribution for students is equal to 4.5% of the basic salary (of which the State budget supports 30%, the remaining 70% is paid by students themselves).

Recently, voters in many localities have proposed that the Ministry of Health exempt or reduce health insurance premiums for students. Not only that, when drafting the amended Law on Health Insurance (effective from July 1, 2025, except for some articles effective from January 1, 2025), many National Assembly deputies proposed that students be allowed to participate in health insurance flexibly.

Because in a large family, if the student only receives 30% support from the State budget, the contribution level will be higher than if participating as a household.

Medical staff provide dental care for students in Hanoi.

Regarding this issue, the Deputy Director of the Health Insurance Department said that in the impact assessment report, for the group of high school students from grades 1-12, the health sector expects the State budget to increase by 3,700 billion VND to raise the level of health insurance contribution support from 30% to 50%.

For the student group, currently about 2.8 million people, the support level remains at 30%. The drafting agency has specifically added this issue to submit to the Government in the near future. Thus, if the health insurance support level is increased to 50%, students only need to pay 631,800 VND/year, equivalent to nearly 53,000 VND/month.

In the draft Decree detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance, which is being consulted, the method of paying health insurance for a number of groups of subjects, the Ministry of Health continues to propose a regulation of 4.5% of monthly salary, salary used as the basis for paying social insurance, pension, and basic salary as prescribed in Decree No. 146. Explaining this contribution level, according to the Ministry of Health, it is because the Health Insurance Fund is currently still in surplus and to stabilize the investment and business environment for enterprises.

In addition, the draft also stipulates the level of support for health insurance contributions for groups of subjects such as village and hamlet health workers; village and hamlet midwives; non-professional workers in villages and residential groups according to regulations; people participating in the force to protect security and order at the grassroots level; victims of bombs, mines and explosives after the war; people awarded the title of People's Artisan, Meritorious Artisan according to the provisions of the Law on Cultural Heritage. The minimum support level is equal to 50% of the contribution level.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/de-xuat-nang-muc-ho-tro-dong-bao-hiem-y-te-cho-hoc-sinh-len-50.html