The Ministry of Health builds a 'basic health service package within the scope of free services', gradually implementing free hospital fees

On December 1, the Ministry of Health held a workshop to seek opinions on the direction of developing a project to gradually implement the policy of free hospital fees.

The Ministry of Health organized a workshop to seek opinions and directions for developing a project to gradually implement the policy of free hospital fees - Photo: T.MINH

Building an appropriate policy framework

Speaking at the workshop, Permanent Deputy Minister of Health Vu Manh Ha emphasized: In recent years, Vietnam has achieved many important achievements in the field of health care.

By 2024, the health insurance coverage rate will reach nearly 95%, the medical examination and treatment network will be expanded, and the professional capacity of all levels will be continuously improved. As a result, the quality of initial medical examination and treatment will be significantly improved and the scope of benefits for health insurance card holders will be increasingly wider.

However, Mr. Ha also pointed out the major challenges that the health sector is facing. People's out-of-pocket spending is about 40%, still at a high level according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization. This makes the risk of poverty due to illness still exist.

Especially for the poor, vulnerable groups, patients with chronic diseases or those requiring long-term treatment. As medical costs continue to rise without strong policy solutions, the financial burden on households becomes increasingly heavy.

Permanent Deputy Minister of Health Vu Manh Ha speaks at the workshop - Photo: T.MINH

In that context, the policy of gradually moving towards free hospital fees is an objective and urgent requirement, both demonstrating the humane nature of Vietnam's social security policy and ensuring the right to health care for all people.

Many countries in the world have applied the model of free health care or universal health coverage and achieved positive results such as reducing the rate of poverty due to medical costs, expanding access to services and effectively controlling diseases.

"These are valuable experiences for Vietnam to refer to in the process of building a model suitable to the socio-economic conditions and structure of the domestic healthcare system.

The Ministry of Health hopes that the workshop will unify awareness and orientation on the goals, scope, objects, roadmap as well as key contents of the project, ensuring consistency, feasibility and suitability with reality," Mr. Ha emphasized.

Develop specific basic health care service packages

At the workshop, Ms. Tran Thi Trang - Director of the Department of Health Insurance, Ministry of Health - said that the burden of medical expenses is still very large, with people paying about 40% of the total expenses. The unpaid health insurance fund is estimated at about 24,800 billion VND/year, while the current contribution rate is only about 4.5% of the base salary.

Regarding the "free hospital fee" policy, she emphasized the goal of moving towards universal health insurance , while reducing and eventually limiting co-payments.

"Regarding the free basic health service package, we will define the free basic health service package including a list of services, diseases, drugs, and medical equipment. Cover common diseases, prioritize necessary diseases first, gradually expand the scope according to professional requirements suitable to the state budget capacity, the Health Insurance Fund, and combine social mobilization.

Ms. Tran Thi Trang, Director of the Department of Health Insurance, shares about the hospital fee exemption project - Photo: T.MINH

The policy will establish a maximum spending level for each medical examination and treatment, based on the average national inpatient and outpatient costs, adjusted by year or period, except for diseases and techniques with high costs.

In the immediate future, the model will be applied at primary medical examination and treatment facilities, including public and private hospitals.

Implementation is on schedule, with priority order, appropriate to contribution level, ability to balance Health Insurance Fund and socio-economic conditions of each period.

Ms. Trang said that the free periodic health check-up is expected to cost about 300,000 VND/person. The funding will come from health insurance , the budget, disease prevention funds and socialized sources.

In the 2027-2030 period, the budget will increase investment, health insurance premiums will be adjusted higher, the State will support priority groups, and at the same time use the Disease Prevention Fund.

Financial resources will also be expanded, such as supplementary health insurance , commercial health insurance, patient assistance programs and taxes on health-damaging products.

Specific roadmap towards basic free hospitalisation

According to the proposal of the Ministry of Health, the 2026-2027 period will prioritize increasing the rate and level of health insurance payments. From 2026, people will be given periodic health check-ups or free screenings at least once a year according to each priority group.

This phase also increases health insurance payments for drugs, medical equipment and medical examination and treatment techniques, and adjusts health insurance contributions from 2027 to about 5.1%, with a budget to support policy beneficiaries.

In the period of 2028-2030, the target is to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure to ≤30%, expand health insurance payments for drugs, medical equipment, and techniques; pilot cost-effective screening for 2-3 diseases; pay for disease prevention services from the Health Insurance Fund; increase coverage to over 95% of the population; increase the contribution rate from 2030 to 5.4% and test supplementary health insurance, diversifying benefit packages.

After 2030, aim for universal health insurance . The scope of hospital fee exemption will be expanded in the basic service package; screening for 3-5 common diseases; the contribution rate will increase to 6% from 2032. At the same time, complete the grassroots health care and the smart, multi-layered, multi-package health insurance payment system.

WILLOW

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-y-te-xay-dung-goi-dich-vu-y-te-co-ban-thuoc-pham-vi-mien-phi-tung-buoc-thuc-hien-mien-vien-phi-20251201163412554.htm