Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan explains about 'free basic hospital fees'

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan has explained the proposal to provide free health check-ups once a year for people and free basic hospital fees.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan - Photo: GIA HAN

On the afternoon of October 17, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the draft resolution of the National Assembly on a number of breakthrough mechanisms and policies for the work of protecting, caring for and improving people's health.

Free periodic health check-ups for people at least once a year from 2026

Presenting the report, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that the draft resolution proposes four groups of policies to reduce people's medical costs.

Policies, salary and allowances for medical staff; policies on specialized training in the health sector and policies on land, tax and finance.

Specifically, the draft resolution proposes that from 2026, free periodic health check-ups will be conducted at least once a year according to priority groups and roadmaps.

Coordinate the activities of periodic health check-ups, free screening, health check-ups for students, occupational disease check-ups, health check-ups for workers according to regulations and health insurance medical examination and treatment to provide free medical check-ups and complete the creation of electronic health books for all people.

Regarding periodic health check-ups, businesses pay for employees according to regulations, Health Insurance Fund, state budget... In which, the state budget spends on priority subjects first, estimated at about 6,000 billion VND/year and can gradually increase according to balance capacity.

Regarding free screening funded by the national target program on health care, population and development for the period 2026-2035.

The Government also proposed that by 2030, the policy of exempting hospital fees will be implemented according to a roadmap suitable to the country's socio-economic development conditions, the balancing capacity of the Health Insurance Fund, and the increase in health insurance contributions from 2027.

Accordingly, people are exempted from basic hospital fees within the scope of health insurance benefits.

Health insurance participants who are social policy beneficiaries, disadvantaged people, low-income earners and some other priority groups will have their benefits increased within the scope of health insurance benefits.

From 2027, health insurance participants who are near-poor households and elderly people aged 75 and over who are receiving social pension benefits will be entitled to 100% coverage of medical examination and treatment costs within the scope of health insurance benefits.

Step by step spending on screening, diagnosis and early treatment of some diseases and priority subjects.

Regarding the funding source for implementation, according to the report, the impact on the Health Insurance Fund when increasing the benefits of these groups of subjects is estimated to be from 455 billion VND to more than 2,739 billion VND.

Meeting scene - Photo: GIA HAN

What is basic free hospitalisation?

After reviewing, Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Society Nguyen Dac Vinh proposed to transfer the content on periodic health check-ups or free screening at least once a year from 2026 to the draft Law on Disease Prevention which is being considered and approved at the upcoming 10th session.

Regarding the policy of exempting hospital fees, the review agency proposed that it only needs to stipulate the principles and assign the Government to study and submit to the National Assembly for consideration and approval of amendments to the Law on Health Insurance in 2026.

At the same time, it is recommended to clarify the content of "free hospital fees at the basic level" within the scope of health insurance benefits. In addition, it is necessary to clarify whether the free hospital fee policy is applied to public and private hospitals or only applies to public hospitals...

Explaining later, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that the payment levels for health insurance beneficiaries have been stipulated in the Law on Health Insurance.

Accordingly, the current benefit policy is co-payment. Some people receive 80% (paid by health insurance), the remaining 20% ​​of patients have to pay themselves; some people receive 90 - 95%. These levels are currently, according to the minister, called the basic level.

She emphasized that based on the calculation of the budget for these activities, this basic level should be gradually increased so that patients have to pay less for medical examination and treatment. "This is called the basic level within the scope of the Law on Health Insurance," Ms. Lan added.

Regarding the salary and allowance policies for medical staff, the Government proposes that doctors (including traditional medicine doctors, dentists), preventive medicine doctors, and pharmacists be ranked at level 2 of the recruited professional title.

People who regularly and directly work in medical professions in the fields of psychiatry, forensic medicine, forensic psychiatry, emergency resuscitation, and pathology are entitled to a preferential occupational allowance at the rate of 100%.

People who regularly and directly work in medical profession at commune-level health stations and preventive health facilities are entitled to a preferential occupational allowance at 100% for ethnic minority and mountainous areas, areas with difficult socio-economic conditions, areas with especially difficult socio-economic conditions, border areas, and islands.

Minimum 70% for cases not listed above.

THANH CHUNG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-truong-bo-y-te-dao-hong-lan-ly-giai-ve-mien-vien-phi-co-ban-20251017172759484.htm