Mr. Vu Manh Ha, Permanent Deputy Minister of Health , spoke at the workshop - Photo: D.LIEU
On November 28, the Ministry of Health held a workshop to solicit opinions on the draft Circular promulgating the list of pharmaceutical drugs, biological products, radioactive drugs, markers and payment for medical gases used in medical examination and treatment within the scope of benefits for health insurance participants.
Building a new drug list so that patients can access quality drugs
Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Vu Manh Ha, Permanent Deputy Minister of Health, said that in recent years, medicine has always been an important component and accounts for a large proportion of total medical examination and treatment costs under health insurance (HI).
Ensuring drug benefits for health insurance participants always plays an important role in effectively implementing health insurance policies and policies to protect, care for and improve people's health.
According to the Ministry of Health, although the proportion of drugs in total health insurance examination and treatment expenditures has gradually decreased in recent years, it still accounts for the largest proportion of expenditures from the health insurance fund, in 2022 it will be 40.01 trillion VND, accounting for 33.41%; in 2024 it will be 50.784 trillion VND, accounting for 31.22%.
Choosing to use and pay for health insurance for medicine in a reasonable way needs attention to contribute to reducing treatment costs, effectively using the health insurance fund and reducing people's out-of-pocket expenses.
Therefore, the leaders of the Ministry of Health believe that reviewing, updating, amending and supplementing the list will help patients access quality drugs, effective drugs, and encourage the controlled development and use of new drugs at reasonable costs.
Expanding payment benefits for patients, will the contribution level increase?
Sharing at the workshop, Ms. Tran Thi Trang, Director of the Department of Health Insurance, Ministry of Health, said that she had reviewed all 1,037 active ingredients in the list in the past 3 years.
Ms. Tran Thi Trang, Director of Health Insurance Department - Photo: T.MINH
After review, the new drugs proposed for inclusion in the list include 81 drugs. Of the 81 newly proposed drugs, 76 drugs meet the criteria for inclusion in the health insurance list, ensuring that the proposed drugs have good treatment effectiveness and safety, while some remaining drugs are still being reviewed and considered.
In addition, there are 14 proposals to reduce prices for 14 drugs with a commitment to reduce drug prices from 6.5% to 60.77% to have a better payment rate for patients, reduce costs for patients and contribute to the balanced and effective use of the health insurance fund.
According to information at the conference, the addition of 76 new drugs to the list, including many drugs for cancer and cardiovascular disease treatment, will have an impact on the health insurance fund. It is estimated that in 5 years, the increase in expenditure will be about 12,245 billion VND. Thus, on average, each year the health insurance fund will increase expenditure by about 2,449 billion VND.
If including proposed new drugs, drugs with proposed changes in conditions and payment rates, and drugs proposed to be removed from the list, it is estimated that the health insurance fund will increase spending by about VND 13,776 billion in 5 years, and on average, the health insurance fund is estimated to increase spending by about VND 2,753 billion per year.
For patients, Ms. Trang clearly stated that patients need to make co-payments according to the subjects or self-pay for drugs with payment rates.
"According to the Ministry of Health's calculations, the Health Insurance Fund can cover medical examination and treatment activities within the next 2 years. By 2027, the Health Insurance contribution rate will have to be increased to balance the fund and have a source of payment for medical examination and treatment, especially when issuing a new drug list.
When increasing the payment rate, adding more drugs to the drug list will require increasing the health insurance contribution to cover it.
However, we also calculate that there needs to be a roadmap to increase the health insurance contribution rate appropriately, close to the economic and social situation, while ensuring fund balance and expanding benefits for the people. The health insurance contribution rate is expected to increase to 6% by 2030," said Ms. Trang.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-sung-them-76-loai-thuoc-moi-co-thuoc-ung-thu-mien-dich-muc-dong-bao-hiem-y-te-co-tang-20251128115538217.htm
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