Paper health insurance cards are about to stop being issued. What should people pay attention to when going to the doctor?

Instead, people will use alternative methods such as VssID, VNeID, or Citizen Identification Cards (CCCD) with chips when going to see a doctor or get treatment. This is an important step in promoting digital transformation and reducing administrative procedures in social insurance work.

By early 2025, the whole country will have 95.52 million people participating in health insurance, reaching 94.2% of the population participating in health insurance, an increase of 2% compared to 2023.

To ensure benefits and avoid interruptions in the medical examination and treatment process, people need to take the following steps: Install the VssID or VNeID application on their smartphones to be able to use the electronic health insurance card image instead of the paper card. Link health insurance information with the chip-embedded CCCD to ensure data synchronization.

Contact your local social insurance agency for support in installing the application if you cannot do so or do not have a chip-embedded ID card. Vietnam Social Insurance said that from June 1, 2025, the social insurance agency will only issue paper health insurance cards for cases where the above methods cannot be used. This will contribute to accelerating the digitization process, helping to save time and costs for both people and state agencies.

To use the VNeID or VssID application instead of a paper health insurance card, people can integrate their health insurance card into these applications by following these simple steps: Integrate health insurance card into VNeID: First, people need to update the latest version of the VNeID application. Then, open the application and log in, select Paper Wallet, then select Integrate information.

Next, select Create new request and enter the health insurance card number and card issuing unit information to complete the integration. Update information on VssID: If the VssID account has not been updated with CCCD number or personal identification number, users can follow the instructions on the application to update information, ensuring accurate and synchronized data.

Digital transformation in the health insurance sector not only helps reduce administrative procedures but also improves management efficiency and saves costs for the entire system. Vietnam Social Security has connected to the National Population Database, authenticated more than 99.8 million people and deployed the use of chip-embedded ID cards instead of paper health insurance cards.

This system has helped shorten the time for medical examination and treatment procedures to 6-15 seconds. In addition, the combination of VssID and VNeID will help people easily look up insurance information, avoid having to carry paper health insurance cards and reduce paperwork when going to see a doctor.

Regarding health insurance examination and treatment, the Ministry of Health has issued Document No. 2909/BYT-BH requiring medical examination and treatment facilities to implement regulations on initial health insurance examination and treatment registration, referral and use of re-examination appointment cards according to Circular No. 01/2025/TT-BYT.

The Ministry requires not to create administrative procedures that cause inconvenience to patients and to ensure convenience in transferring between medical examination and treatment facilities.

Medical facilities need to implement appropriate procedures for transferring patients between medical facilities, especially leading specialized hospitals. Neighboring localities need to coordinate closely to unify the process of transferring patients between provinces and cities, in order to minimize the overload at medical facilities.

Circular 01/2025/TT-BYT stipulates that referral forms are valid for 10 working days from the date of signing. However, for patients with chronic or serious illnesses, referral forms can be valid for up to 1 year, helping patients continue to receive long-term treatment at appropriate specialist facilities.

The implementation of new regulations in the field of health insurance not only contributes to protecting people's rights but also helps improve the efficiency of the health system, facilitate medical examination and treatment, and promote the digital transformation process in social insurance work.

In 2024, 186.2 million health examinations and treatments under health insurance were recorded, with the proposed payment amount reaching VND 142,985 billion. The implementation of new regulations not only contributes to protecting people's rights but also helps improve the efficiency of the health system, creating maximum convenience for people in the process of medical examination and treatment.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/sap-ngung-cap-the-bhyt-giay-nguoi-dan-di-kham-benh-can-luu-y-gi-d285216.html