Some 1.2 million people have opted out of medical
insurance due to complex new regulations in the adjusted Medical Insurance Law,
an official has admitted, and this means the Government will miss its target of
75 per cent of the population having medical insurance by the end of this year.
"The
Medical Insurance Law stipulates, starting this year, that everyone must buy
medical insurance but only together with their family and not
individually," Vu Xuan Bang, deputy head of the Viet Nam Social
Insurance's Medical Insurance Policy Implementation Division, was quoted as
saying by Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Viet Nam Economic Times) newspaper.
"So many people quit."
The rule
making buying insurance for the entire family mandatory is troublesome in many
ways. For instance, if a member has insurance at work or does not live with the
family, it must be proved with documents, which are sometimes not easy to
obtain.
"The
adjusted Medical Insurance Law has many provisions that are difficult to
implement," Le Van Kham, deputy head of the Ministry of Health's Medical
Insurance Department, admitted.
The
Ministry had sent seven task forces to check implementation of the law in 10
localities and found there was a lot of trouble, he said.
"Viet
Nam Social Insurance and the Ministry of Health will work with related authorities
to provide clear and easy-to-follow guidelines for buying medical
insurance."
The
stipulation that insurance has to be bought by the entire family is aimed at
making the system sustainable by eradicating a situation where only sickly
people sign up.
But to
its credit, the law offers a 30 per cent premium discount for the second
member, 40 per cent for the third, 50 per cent for the fourth and 60 per cent
from the fifth onwards.
A
five-member family thus pays only around VND2 million (US$100) for a year.
But the
attrition means from 64.5 million policy holders at the end of last year –
accounting for 72 per cent of the population – the number had come down to 63.3
million in April.
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