After new laws on public health insurance were introduced in 2009 many people still prefer private plans because of shortcomings in the law.
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| Vast discrepancy for cost treatment for insured and uninsured |
According to Vietnam Social Insurance, as of May 2013, the number of people who have health insurance was 68%. Poor and ethnic minority people, as well as children, are provided health insurances for free.
Nguyen Thi Xuyen, Deputy Minister of Health said only 53% employees opt in to the public health insurance system, even though the government provides for 70% of the fees for people who live near poverty line. Of these, only 20% participated.
The Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said, often people only buy insurance when they have an illness. However, she admitted, that the quality of healthcare leaves much to be desired. Complicated procedures are difficult to receive and there remains poor bedside manner from doctors for those with public insurance.
Another problem that remains is that residents of rural areas often seek out treatment in larger urban hospitals, leading to overload.
Tong Thi Song Huong, head of the Health Insurance Department, said that in near future the laws on health insurance will be adjusted to cover one hundred percent of hospital fees if they amount to more than the individual's yearly income, although the patient must have participated in the system from five to ten years to qualify.
The Ministry of Health and Vietnam Social Insurance Company are also revising their systems to lessen the number of costly procedures. However they will offset this by raising the cap for treatments from VND42 million (USD2,013) to VND46 million starting in July.
According to the National Health Insurance Project, Vietnam's goal is to have 70% people join the national system by 2015, and 80% by 2020.
