81 new drugs to treat cancer and cardiovascular disease will soon be covered by health insurance

81 new drugs, mainly used to treat cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, blood pressure... have been added by the Ministry of Health to the list of drugs covered by health insurance.

New drugs for cancer, heart disease, diabetes

The Ministry of Health is drafting a circular to promulgate a list of pharmaceutical drugs, biological products, radioactive substances and markers within the scope of benefits for health insurance participants, including cancer treatment drugs, to help patients access new drugs.

Add new drugs to treat cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes to the list of drugs covered by the Health Insurance Fund

PHOTO: LIEN CHAU

Along with the statistics and review of 1,037 active ingredients in the list of health insurance funds paying (issued in Circular 20) currently in use, in the draft circular, the Ministry of Health Proposed update and addition of 81 new drugs mainly used to treat cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, blood pressure, anti-infective, anti-fungal.

At the same time, the scope of drug use is adjusted, not only according to hospital class and basic level, but also expanded to 357 drugs within the scope of commune health stations and primary health facilities.

The draft also proposes to change the payment rate for 47 drugs already on the list in the direction of increasing the level of support for patients, and to remove from the proposed list 130 drugs with active ingredients that no longer have circulation registration numbers, are not rare drugs, and do not have import licenses.

Recommend businesses to lower drug prices

According to information from the Ministry of Health, spending on cancer drugs alone in 2023 is 7,521 billion VND, ranking first in total drug payments from the Health Insurance Fund.

From the patient’s perspective, the burden of paying out of pocket for cancer treatment is enormous. According to hospitals, the average cost of treatment for a cancer patient is over 176 million VND/year, of which, for some drugs, the patient must pay up to 70%.

Commenting on the draft, some experts said that the draft drug list needs to assess the budget impact of the drug, assess the safety and continue to recommend that businesses reduce the cost of drug products to include in the payment rate in a direction that benefits patients without affecting the Health Insurance Fund.

Deputy Minister of Health Vu Manh Ha has assigned the Department of Health Insurance (Ministry of Health) to continue coordinating with relevant units to research and review additional drugs that can treat diseases that require long-term, expensive treatment; carefully study the content of "medical gas" when including it in the draft circular to ensure compliance with legal regulations.

The draft considers adjusting the payment rates and conditions to be reasonable, equitable, creating balance in people's access to medicine, meeting the prescribed criteria and receiving high consensus. In particular, trying to maximize decentralization and delegation of authority to the commune level; reducing co-payments for patients and saving and being effective in the Health Insurance Fund.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/81-thuoc-moi-chua-ung-thu-tim-mach-sap-duoc-bao-hiem-y-te-thanh-toan-185251119224311031.htm