Vietnam: Progress in expanding social health insurance, says WB

Vietnam has made great strides in expanding social health insurance, which now covers more than half of its population, the World Bank (WB) said in its new report released on September 18.

However, the report says, reforms, such as providing premium subsidies, greater family enrolment and introducing catastrophic cost coverage can help the country reach universal coverage.

“Vietnam has made significant progress toward achieving universal coverage for its population, and the government has made ambitious plans toward reaching that goal,” Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank Country Director for Vietnam said.

“This study shows us how Vietnam can speed up this process in order to ensure a healthy Vietnamese population, while reducing the health financial burden on the poor,” she added.

The report, Moving Toward Universal Health Coverage of Social Health Insurance in Vietnam: Assessment and Options, offers a comprehensive assessment of Vietnam’s implementation of its social health insurance program, as well as recommendations on key reforms that the country can undertake to achieve universal coverage. During its preparation stage, it already contributed to the dialogue on the revision of Vietnam’s Health Insurance Law.

Propelled by higher government spending in health care, the insurance program, which was piloted in 1989, has greatly boosted the number of people with health coverage. In 2010, nearly 60 percent of Vietnamese had health insurance, up from 10 percent in the early 1990s.

The Master Plan for Universal Coverage, which was approved in 2012 by the Prime Minister, aims to expand coverage even further, to at least 70 percent of the population by 2015 and 80 percent by 2020. It also sets the goal of reducing patients’ out-of-pocket costs to less than 40 percent of total health care spending by 2015.

But challenges remain. Despite large increases in subsidies for the near-poor, low enrolment rates persist, even among those in the formal sector, where enrolment is mandatory. Meanwhile, out-of-pocket costs still made up nearly 60 percent of health care costs in 2010, leaving households vulnerable to financial shocks.

(Source: nhandan.org.vn)