Contributing opinions to the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance, National Assembly delegate Dinh Van The (National Assembly Delegation of Gia Lai province) proposed adding to Article 31 of the Draft Law the content of regulations on cases of shortage of drugs and medical supplies due to objective reasons, force majeure and the inability to transfer patients to other medical examination and treatment facilities.
Accordingly, if the patient must purchase medicine and medical supplies according to the doctor's prescription, the medical examination and treatment facility is responsible for refunding the patient the amount of money spent on medicine and medical supplies before the patient is discharged from the hospital. At the same time, the medical examination and treatment facility will make a consolidated payment to the social insurance agency and be responsible for the payment request file.
Delegate Dinh Van The also pointed out the current situation, in the past, although the medical examination and treatment contract had been signed, the social insurance agency did not pay the medical examination and treatment costs under the health insurance contract in a timely manner. This caused many difficulties for medical examination and treatment facilities, prolonging the process, affecting the operation of medical examination and treatment.
Therefore, to ensure an equal relationship between the two parties concluding and signing a medical examination and treatment contract, delegate Dinh Van The proposed to add a regulation that the social insurance agency must promptly and on time pay the medical examination and treatment costs covered by health insurance to the medical examination and treatment facility according to the signed contract.
"In case the social insurance agency is late in payment, it must pay interest on the late payment amount according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 468 of the 2015 Civil Code" - delegate Dinh Van The proposed.
Speaking at the discussion hall, delegate Tran Chi Cuong (National Assembly Delegation of Da Nang City) suggested that the drafting agency should review and complete the content of amendments and supplements to Article 31 on payment of health insurance medical examination and treatment costs.
According to the delegate, although the Draft Law has added regulations on payment in case of adjustment between health insurance examination and treatment facilities and paraclinical service costs in Clauses 4 and 5. However, the fact that health insurance examination and treatment patients have to buy medicine and medical supplies from outside, when the hospital does not have them, how will they be paid is a practical issue that many voters are concerned about.
Delegate Tran Chi Cuong analyzed that, although before submitting the draft Law at this Session, the Ministry of Health promptly issued Circular No. 22 regulating the direct payment of medicine and medical equipment costs for people with health insurance cards going to see a doctor or receive treatment, effective from January 1, 2025. However, through research, the delegate found that this Circular does not resolve the above problems, nor can it completely resolve the current drug shortage situation... In addition, the conditions, records, and payment procedures stipulated in Circular 22 also have many problems and difficulties in implementation.
Therefore, the delegate suggested that the drafting agency should study and add a provision on payment for health insurance patients who have to buy medicine and medical supplies from outside, when the medical examination and treatment facility does not have medicine and medical supplies in Article 31 to ensure the legitimate rights of people when going for medical examination and treatment under the health insurance regime.
Debate at the meeting, delegate Ta Van Ha (National Assembly delegation of Quang Nam province) mentioned the content of the quality of health insurance examination and lack of health insurance medicine. According to delegate Ta Van Ha, voters expressed their frustration when the quality of health insurance examination was not guaranteed, sometimes there was a lack of medicine dispensed to patients with health insurance examination. Therefore, the delegate suggested that the annual health insurance balance should be made public, improving the quality of health insurance examination and treatment.
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