VN strives for health insurance for all

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the meeting to mark the Vietnam Health Insurance Day, June 29, 2012 - Photo: VGP

The Government chief made the point Friday at a meeting to mark the Vietnam Health Insurance Day (July 1).

Vietnam has adopted the Health Insurance Law which took effect since July 1, 2009. Over the past three years, 63% of Vietnamese population (around 55 million people) have taken part in health insurance compared to just 5.6% in 1993.

Especially, health insurance has brought a lot of benefits to poor people, people with meritorious services to the country and children under six.

However, health insurance sector has not been successful in mobilizing the participation of households living just above poverty line, free urban laborers and others in rural areas.

Prime Minister Dung underlined that health insurance is a special social policy and the core of Vietnam’s financial policy for healthcare.

Through the health insurance, we can mobilize financial resources from people to form the health insurance fund which would help better protect people’s health and reduce their financial burden once they got diseases, the Prime Minister added.

Prime Minister Dung urged the Ministry of Health to quickly improve healthcare system from the central to local levels to meet people’s increasing demand for medical treatment and examination.

By Thuy Dung