Although Vietnam is still a developing country, with limited resources, the Vietnamese State has always paid special attention to and implemented healthcare policies well for people.

Access to health services of health insurance beneficiaries improves

The work of protecting and taking care of people's health has gained many important achievements and it is one evidence of Vietnam’s efforts in ensuring human rights.

Currently, the level of access to health services by people participating in the health insurance system has significantly improved. Health insurance creates considerable public financing for medical examination and treatment, and contributes to reach the goal of ensuring equality in people's healthcare policy and social security.

Photo: Vietnam has made great efforts to implement the roadmap for universal health insurance.

These achievements show the correct policy of the Party and the State on changing health financing mechanism in healthcare for the people, which helps change the perception of the majority of people about benefits when participating in the health insurance system.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), global health insurance means everyone has access to healthcare whenever and wherever they need it.

Global health insurance protects people from financial difficulties that come from paying health services by themselves, helping to reduce the risk that people are pushed into poverty because diseases and unexpected risks often force them to use up their savings, sell assets or borrow money, which destroy their own future and future generations.

Therefore, global health insurance is not only the main priority of the WHO, but also one of the important goals in the system of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the international community in general and nations are focusing on.

With specific policies and solutions as well as non-stop efforts, many countries around the world have made positive strides in realizing this goal.

However, according to WHO, it is worrying that so far at least half of the world's population has not yet received adequate coverage of essential health services; more than 800 million people (nearly 12% of the world's population) have spent at least 10% of their family budget on healthcare. In particular, about 100 million people are still being pushed into extreme poverty (defined as daily spending of $1.9 or less) as they have to pay for healthcare services.

This is also the reason for the United Nations to schedule a conference in September this year to find a new solution to promote the implementation of the global health insurance goal, contributing to building a healthier world, where people's health is better protected.

Vietnam makes efforts to implement the roadmap for universal health insurance

The development of health insurance is an important contribution to reducing personal healthcare spending for the people (down from 49% in 2012 to around 40% at present) and is moving towards below 30% by 2025.

Like many other countries in the world, over the years, Vietnam has continuously made efforts to implement the universal health insurance roadmap. And the good news is that these efforts have brought about major breakthroughs in this area.

Specifically, in 2009, when the Health Insurance Law came into effect, only 45 percent of the population joined the health insurance system. By the end of May 2019, it was 89% of the population, with about 84.5 million people, reaching an essential health service coverage index of 73/100 points, higher than the average for the Southeast Asia region (59 points) and the global average (64 points).

The development of health insurance in Vietnam is not only reflected in rapid expansion of the coverage but also the number of hundreds of millions of people receiving healthcare, medical examination and treatment each year under the health insurance regime.

People with health insurance have access to advanced medical technical services. Most kinds of drugs and technical services are covered by the health insurance fund when health insurance beneficiaries use healthcare services at the hospitals they register for. The payment for medical examination and treatment expenses from the health insurance fund has helped people, especially the poor, reduce their financial burdens in case of suffering from illness or accidents.

Vietnam gains important achievements in healthcare for the people

The development of health insurance is an important contribution to reducing personal healthcare spending for the people (down from 49% in 2012 to around 40% at present) and is moving towards below 30% by 2025. The level of financial protection for people in health care has improved, and impoverishment due to health spending has been almost eliminated (only 1.3%).

The work of protecting and taking care of people's health has gained many important achievements and it is one evidence of Vietnam’s efforts in ensuring human rights.

Minh Van