Health insurance for children under 6 years old: Part 2: People are still indifferent...

As of June 30, 2011, the total number of children under 6 years old in the province was 303,405 (data provided by the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs), while the number of health insurance cards issued was 294,402 (data from the provincial Social Insurance). Thus, there are still more than 9,000 children under 6 years old in our province who do not have health insurance cards...

See Part 1: A great policy...

At Nghe An Children's Hospital, the number of children under 6 years old accounts for nearly 80% of the number of children coming for examination and treatment at the hospital. Specifically, in the first 6 months of the year, the number of children under 6 years old coming for examination was 55,714, the number of treatment was 9,952, many of whom had serious and dangerous diseases. However, out of about 400 cases coming to register for examination and treatment each day, there are 15-20 cases of children under 6 years old who do not have health insurance cards.

At the check-in area of ​​the Children's Hospital, we met a mother holding a small child asking to see a doctor for her child. Her name is Hoang Thi Thao, a hairdresser in Nghi Khanh commune, Nghi Loc.

Check-in counter for children under 6 years old at Nghe An Children's Hospital

When the counter staff asked for her child's health insurance card, she shook her head: no. When asked why she had not yet made a health insurance card for her child (Tran Thao Hoang Anh, 11 months old), she replied: Because I don't know, haven't heard of this policy. That's why she didn't bring any documents such as her child's birth certificate or birth certificate to enjoy the insurance policy.

Looking through the list of applications for health insurance cards in June of Do Luong district, Tan Son commune alone shows that there are many children born in 2005, 2006, 2007... who are just now applying for (or changing) cards, such as the cases of children: Dao Thi Minh Ly, born on October 17, 2005 in Hamlet 1, Nguyen Thi Thuy Duong born on April 8, 2006 in Hamlet 5, Nguyen Kim Phuc born on April 22, 2006 in Hamlet 1... Mr. Tran Van Cong, policy officer of Ngoc Son commune (Do Luong) said that in the commune, almost 100% of children of the right age have been issued cards, but in reality, achieving that result is not simple. Despite propaganda and mobilization, many people still have a complacent mentality, taking it lightly. Only when needed do they come to "complain".

There are also many parents who do not know about the Health Insurance Law and policies related to the rights of their children. According to Mr. Hoang Cong Tru - Deputy Head of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Yen Thanh district, most of the cases of delayed card issuance in the district often fall on Catholic families, cases where parents work far away, pay little attention to social policies and have little time to care for their children. There are many cases that are really due to circumstances and level of awareness, but there are also many people who are indifferent and do not care to know. Even when they know, many parents still do not make cards for their children or forget and lose the cards after making them.

According to doctors at Nghe An Children's Hospital, not all cases of not having a health insurance card for examination are because the parents have not yet made a card, or do not know about this policy. There are many cases where they understand very well but still "evade the law" because they bring their birth certificate for convenience, to save time looking for the card. In many cases, when the children are sick, go to a medical facility for examination and treatment, or when they have to transfer to a higher level and require a health insurance card, the parents rush to make a card.

Right at the working session with the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Do Luong, we witnessed the case of Nguyen Thi Gia Nhi, born on October 20, 2010 in Block 8 of the Town, who followed her parents to work far away. Now that she has returned home, unfortunately she has a high fever and has to be hospitalized at a higher level, so her family had to go to the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to beg the staff here to help make a health insurance card for her. According to Mr. Tran Huu Thuong, an officer of the Department, these are sudden cases but are not rare and it is difficult to say "no" even though we know it will cause difficulties for the management of the industry as well as the Social Insurance.

In particular, there are many areas, especially in mountainous, remote and isolated areas, where people do not even pay attention to their children's birth registration, let alone making a card. Many people do not fully understand the meaning of the card, and keep the habit of buying medicine themselves when their children are sick for convenience or taking them to the hospital for medical examination. Many people are also hesitant because they are afraid that if they register for health insurance at the local level, it will take time to do the transfer procedures when their children are unfortunately seriously ill. There are also people who have the mentality of "not being sick, not worrying". In addition, it is impossible not to mention the indifference of local authorities and policy officials. The lack of thorough propaganda and guidance, combined with the heavy burden of concurrent work at the local level, has caused many places where the State's policies have not really reached the people. On the other hand, some local officials were late in making a list to apply for the card, but when they had the card, they were slow in distributing the card to the people.

Therefore, it is important that each citizen needs to raise awareness and understand the true meaning of a major policy to join hands with society to better care for their children.

(To be continued)

Glory