Submit to the National Assembly breakthrough mechanisms and policies for the work of protecting, caring for and improving people's health

The Government proposes that from 2026, people will be entitled to periodic health check-ups or free screening at least once a year according to priority groups and schedules; from 2027, the benefit level within the scope of health insurance benefits will be 100% for near-poor households and the elderly aged 75 years and older.

On the morning of November 17, authorized by the Prime Minister, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan submitted to the National Assembly a 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.

The issuance of the Resolution aims to effectively implement Resolution 72-NQ/TW dated September 9, 2025 of the Politburo , which identifies a number of specific mechanisms and policies that need to be immediately implemented to implement the contents assigned by the Politburo and ensure feasibility.

The draft Resolution includes 7 articles regulating: expanding health care benefits and reducing medical costs for people; regimes and policies on salaries and allowances for medical staff; specialized training in the health sector; land, taxes, finance...

Regarding the policy group on reducing medical costs for people, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that the Government proposed that from 2026, people will be able to have regular health check-ups or free screening 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 and assign the Government to determine appropriate funding sources for implementation.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan. (Photo: DUY LINH)

The source of funding for periodic health check-ups is paid by the enterprise for employees according to regulations, or is guaranteed by the Health Insurance Fund, the 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 the balance.

Free screening costs from the National Target Program on health care, population and development for the 2026-2035 period.

In addition, the draft Resolution of the National Assembly stipulates exemption of hospital fees at the basic level within the scope of health insurance benefits according to the roadmap, in accordance with the socio-economic development conditions of the country.

According to the Government's proposal, from 2027, the level of benefits within the scope of health insurance benefits will be 100% for subjects belonging to near-poor households and elderly people aged 75 and over who are receiving social pension benefits. The funding source for implementation will come from the Health Insurance Fund (estimated at between VND 455 billion and VND 2,738.9 billion).

In addition, the Government proposed that the National Assembly allow pilot implementation, diversify health insurance packages, and supplementary health insurance according to people's needs, and assign the Government to regulate when conditions are met.

Regarding the policy group on regimes, salary and allowance policies for medical staff, Resolution No. 72-NQ/TW clearly states: "100% for people who regularly and directly work in medical professions at commune-level health stations, preventive medical facilities in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, areas with difficult or especially difficult socio-economic conditions, border areas, islands, the fields of psychiatry, forensic medicine, forensic psychiatry, emergency resuscitation, pathology and some other special subjects suitable to the conditions of economic and social development".

To comply with the provisions of Resolution 72 and the ability to balance the budget, the Government proposes not to regulate other specific subjects for now, but only to regulate the regime for subjects specifically identified in Resolution 72 and assign the Government to regulate in detail. The State budget guarantees the estimated cost of about 4,481.1 billion VND.

Regarding the group of policy solutions on land, tax, and finance, the Government proposes to allow competent state agencies on land management to consider and decide on the conversion of land use purposes from other purposes to land with medical use purposes without having to adjust land use planning and land use plans according to the provisions of the law on land and planning.

The state budget ensures regular expenditures and investment expenditures for primary health care and preventive health care regardless of the level of financial autonomy.

To specify the provisions in Resolution 72 "Strengthening the implementation of the Expanded Immunization Program in terms of both scope and vaccination subjects", the Government proposed that the state budget ensure funding for catch-up vaccination and campaign vaccination for vaccines in the Expanded Immunization Program to proactively prevent and control epidemics. The estimated annual budget is about 160 billion VND (of which the central budget is about 95 billion VND and the local budget is about 65 billion VND).

Regarding the effective date, in order to have time to prepare the implementation guidance documents, the Ministry of Health proposes that the Resolution will take effect from January 1, 2026.

In addition, because the content on catch-up vaccination and campaign vaccination has been included in the draft Law on Disease Prevention but will only take effect from July 1, 2026, to ensure a legal basis for implementation from January 1, 2026, the Government proposes that the regulations on catch-up vaccination and campaign vaccination in the Resolution will take effect from January 1, 2026 until the date the Law on Disease Prevention takes effect.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Social Affairs Nguyen Dac Vinh. (Photo: DUY LINH)

Presenting his review opinion, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society Nguyen Dac Vinh suggested that the drafting agency continue to research and supplement regulations in the draft Resolution to institutionalize some contents of Resolution No. 72.

Specifically, clarify the mechanism for implementing linkages between hospitals and facilities and units in current medical development, and the level of compliance with current regulations in performing the task of "promoting linkages between hospitals, research institutes, training facilities and enterprises to develop high-tech and specialized medicine".

There are specific policies to encourage the development of large-scale private hospitals with specialized technical levels on par with those of developed countries; review and research to expand the scope of public-private cooperation in other health sectors besides medical examination and treatment...

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Source: https://nhandan.vn/trinh-quoc-hoi-co-che-chinh-sach-dot-pha-cho-cong-tac-bao-ve-cham-soc-va-nang-cao-suc-khoe-nhan-dan-post923615.html