The Ministry of Health is lobbying the government for a swingeing 50% increase in hospital charges from August this year.
Under the plan, the rise will be firstly applied to cities and provinces with at least 95% of local people using health insurance. Then later in October, November and December in the year, the increase will be applied to localities with the health insurance rate of 90%, 85% and 80% respectively. Meanwhile, hospital fees will be hiked in the remaining localities from January 2017.
The Ministry of Health is lobbying the government for a swingeing 50% increase in hospital charges from August this year.
According to the Vietnam Social Insurance, the five cities and provinces with 95% of local population owing health insurance are Dien Bien, Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Thai Nguyen and Tuyen Quang.
Earlier, in March this year, the prices of 1,900 different services and products at public hospitals were already ratcheted up by 30%.
Pham Luong Son, head of the Vietnam Social Insurance Agency's Health Insurance Policy Implementation Department, said uninsured patients would be massively hit by the rising prices of hospital fees. Some 25% of the Vietnamese population is still not covered by health insurance.