My health insurance card has expired, but I have a referral letter. Can I still get insurance?

A child patient had a referral letter but staff at Children's Hospital 2, Ho Chi Minh City did not process the file because they thought the health insurance card had expired.

Children are examined for respiratory diseases in Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: TU TRUNG

Reflecting to Tuoi Tre Online , reader L.D.C. said that on the morning of November 19, he took his 6-year-old child to Tan Binh District Hospital (HCMC) for a follow-up examination. The doctor diagnosed the child with right-sided pneumonia, so he was transferred to Children's Hospital 2 for examination and treatment.

On the same day, although he brought a referral form for health insurance treatment, the hospital staff did not process it, the reason being that the health insurance card had expired and required a new card from 2025 to process it.

"I purchased an additional 15 months of health insurance for my child in 2024-2025 and in fact, my child's health insurance is valid from October 1, 2024 to December 30, 2025.

However, the hospital medical staff still did not resolve the issue, so we had to return to the school (where our child studies) and ask the district social insurance agency to issue a new health insurance card so that our child could be hospitalized for treatment," Mr. C. explained.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre Online , Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance, said that in this case, the child had a health insurance card under the age of 6, valid until September 30, 2024, and the child's relatives had extended the card for another 15 months, valid from October 1, 2024 to December 31, 2025.

Currently, health insurance cards are only valid from, not until. Therefore, when children go to see a doctor, their relatives only need to bring their old health insurance card to be covered by health insurance .

The fact that the staff of Children's Hospital 2 did not handle the medical examination and treatment of children is against the regulations. In case of lost health insurance card or damaged or torn card, please contact the social insurance agency to get a new one.

"This patient has a referral from a lower level hospital, so he will be covered by health insurance for the entire treatment period.

In case of needing a re-examination according to professional requirements, the doctor will write a re-examination appointment for the patient, and the patient will go for a re-examination using this re-examination appointment without having to ask for a referral from a lower level," Ms. Hang affirmed.

Hospital apologizes and corrects shortcomings

After receiving Mr. C's feedback, Children's Hospital 2 had a meeting with medical staff from relevant departments and responded in writing.

In the response document, the hospital proposed to organize a meeting and discussion with the patient's relatives, apologize for the dissatisfaction, correct the shortcomings of the relevant departments and still ensure health insurance benefits for children when they come to the hospital for examination and treatment.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/the-bao-hiem-y-te-het-han-co-giay-chuyen-vien-duoc-huong-bao-hiem-khong-20241126165305568.htm