Continue to research expanding health insurance coverage, reducing out-of-pocket expenses for people

Ms. Dao Hong Lan shared at the 15th anniversary of Vietnam Health Insurance Day - Photo: N.NHIÊN

Speaking at the ceremony, Ms. Dao Hong Lan shared that over the years, health insurance has achieved many successes. In particular, the number of people participating in health insurance is increasing.

Since 2009, the first year of implementing the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, the health insurance coverage rate was 58% of the population. By December 2023, over 93 million people nationwide participated in health insurance, reaching a coverage rate of 93.35% of the population.

Along with that, the quality of medical examination and treatment under health insurance is increasingly improved, people have access to modern medical technology services, many new and highly effective drugs, helping many people overcome illness and serious diseases.

"The health insurance policy has ensured the principle of risk sharing among health insurance participants. In addition, a number of key issues in the health insurance policy are continuously researched, evaluated and appropriate solutions are found, such as developing health insurance participants; benefits of health insurance participants; organizing medical examination and treatment; payment methods for medical examination and treatment costs...", Ms. Lan emphasized.

In addition, Ms. Lan also said that the goal of health insurance continues to aim at reducing the rate of direct out-of-pocket expenditures from households for health care.

The goal is to reduce the proportion of out-of-pocket expenditures for health care to 35% by 2025 and to 30% by 2030. At the same time, focus on research to gradually expand the scope of benefits for health insurance participants.

In particular, benefits to help prevent and treat diseases early and remotely to meet the needs of care, protection and improvement of people's health, calculate and propose appropriate contribution levels to ensure the balance of the health insurance fund.

Speaking at the event, Ms. Angela Pratt - Chief Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Vietnam - said that WHO has supported Vietnam since the early days when the Ministry of Health began drafting the Law on Health Insurance. Now, health needs are met promptly and effectively, and Vietnam has achieved a health insurance coverage rate of over 93%.

Ms. Angela Pratt believes that health insurance is a fundamental component of people's health care, aiming to reduce the economic burden on people and serve essential health care needs. Vietnam's health insurance has helped millions of people receive health care.

“In the future, we need to consider the design of what services are covered by health insurance funds and how to appropriately incentivize health facilities to provide services most effectively.

International experience shows that the design of health insurance policies and payments is extremely important in determining the services provided at each level of the health system. This is also an important lever to orient the entire system towards better quality primary health care," the WHO representative emphasized.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tiep-tuc-nghien-cuu-mo-rong-chi-tra-bao-hiem-y-te-giam-chi-tien-tui-cho-nguoi-dan-20240701111807725.htm