Request for comments on the Draft amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance

On August 29, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Health held a conference to seek opinions on the Draft amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance.

Law on Health Insurance No. 25/2008/QH12 was passed by the 12th National Assembly on November 14, 2008, effective from January 1, 2009, amended and supplemented by a number of articles in Law on Health Insurance No. 46/2014/QH13, which is the highest legal basis for implementing the goal of universal health insurance.

After 15 years of implementation, the Law on Health Insurance has truly come into life, affirming the correctness and conformity of health insurance policies and regimes based on the principle of risk sharing, as a mechanism to ensure financial resources for people's medical examination and treatment needs, ensuring social security and international integration. However, in the process of implementation, there have been problems, inadequacies and limitations that need to be adjusted.

Therefore, the Ministry of Health has been urgently researching and developing a dossier to propose the development of a Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance. During the development process, the Ministry of Health will coordinate with the Ministry of Justice and relevant ministries and branches to review and unify the dossier in the direction of focusing on amending and supplementing as much as possible the arising problems and inadequacies; thereby achieving high consensus; at the same time, codifying a number of contents that have been stipulated in relevant legal documents.

Conference Scene

Speaking at the Conference, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen emphasized the importance of the Health Insurance policy; at the same time, he said that after 15 years of implementing the Health Insurance Law, the Health Insurance policy has gradually developed and achieved important achievements, contributing to the care and protection of people's health. In particular, aiming to build a fair and effective Vietnamese health system, approaching the goal of universal health coverage.

However, in addition to the achieved results, the 2014 Law has some provisions that are no longer suitable for socio-economic development, and some new contents have arisen in practical implementation. Meanwhile, Vietnam is entering the stage of population aging, disease patterns are changing, and non-communicable diseases are increasing. In particular, the need for health care and protection of the people is increasing...

On August 22, 2024, the National Assembly Standing Committee met and voted to approve the addition to the 2024 Law and Ordinance Development Program to submit to the National Assembly for comments and approval at the 8th session (October 2024) according to the procedure at a session of the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance.

After the meeting, the Ministry of Health received opinions from the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Social Affairs Committee, and the Law Committee to supplement and complete the reports, determine the scope of amendments and supplements focusing on the contents that are truly necessary, urgent, clear, have high consensus, ensure consistency and consistency with the provisions of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, the Law on Social Insurance, and remove shortcomings, obstacles, and difficulties that have been summarized through practice, careful research, and ensure feasibility.

Contributing to the Draft Law, at the Conference, delegates made many important contributions focusing on amending and supplementing the subjects, payment methods and management of the Health Insurance fund; payment methods, appraisal of medical examination and treatment costs of Health Insurance... The goal is to adjust the subjects participating in health insurance in line with the provisions of relevant laws.

Adjust the scope of health insurance benefits in accordance with the contribution level, balance the health insurance fund and health care requirements in each period; Adjust relevant health insurance regulations according to the level of technical expertise in medical examination and treatment and promote the role of grassroots health care in primary health care and health insurance medical examination and treatment; Allocate and use health insurance funds effectively.

Speaking at the Conference, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Social Security Le Hung Son emphasized that Vietnam Social Security always clearly identifies the work of controlling medical examination and treatment costs under Health Insurance not to limit the rights of patients, but to promptly monitor and prevent violations, thereby ensuring the rights of Health Insurance patients in accordance with the technical and economic norms established by the Ministry of Health for each service.

It is necessary to amend and supplement a number of articles of the current Law on Health Insurance to resolve arising problems and inadequacies; strengthen the management and effective use of the Health Insurance Fund. At the same time, it must ensure consistency with the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15/2023/QH15 and related laws to promptly take effect from January 1, 2025.

Ms. Tran Thi Trang - Director of the Department of Health Insurance (Ministry of Health) presented an overview of the detailed draft of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance and the Plan for developing the Draft Law.

The purpose of this amendment and supplement to the law is to resolve arising problems and inadequacies. At the same time, it is to strengthen the management and effective use of the Health Insurance Fund; ensure consistency with the 2023 Law on Medical Examination and Treatment and related laws and regulations.

Mr. Nguyen Tat Thao - Deputy Head of the Department of Health Insurance Policy Implementation (Vietnam Social Insurance) said that Vietnam Social Insurance highly agrees with the direction of amending and supplementing the Law on Health Insurance, which is aimed at improving the scope of health insurance benefits in the direction of increasing cost efficiency, meeting the health care needs of the people in accordance with the Party's guidelines and policies and the State's policies and laws.

The Ministry of Health is requested to thoroughly, comprehensively and comprehensively assess the impacts of the new proposals in the Draft Law. The expansion of the scope of benefits needs to be calculated in relation to the Health Insurance Fund, especially the economic impact and the contribution capacity of enterprises, employees, people and the state budget. From there, propose appropriate solutions and roadmaps to increase the Health Insurance Fund, meeting actual needs.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/xin-y-kien-du-thao-sua-doi-bo-sung-mot-so-dieu-cua-luat-bao-hiem-y-te-d223671.html