National Assembly delegates from Nghe An province debated amendments and additions to several articles of the Health Insurance Law.

On the afternoon of October 31st, at the National Assembly building, continuing the program of the 8th Session, the National Assembly held a plenary discussion on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Health Insurance Law. Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh presided over the session.

Amidst differing opinions regarding the proposed amendment to the Law on Health Insurance, which includes family members of permanent militia members, Major General Tran Duc Thuan, Standing Member of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security and a representative from Nghe An province, expressed his agreement with the proposed legislation.

According to the delegates, the Party and the State have always defined the armed forces as comprising the Army, the Police, and the militia; in particular, the Party Central Committee has issued conclusions and directives emphasizing the importance of building the militia in key security and defense areas; as well as giving adequate attention to policies for this force.

In line with the Party's viewpoint, the 2019 Militia and Self-Defense Law defines the militia and self-defense forces as comprising mobile militia and standing militia; in which the standing militia is only organized in key areas for security and national defense, with a service period of 2 years, and after completing their duties, they are recognized as having completed their military service.

The law also stipulates social insurance and health insurance policies for permanent militia members similar to those for non-commissioned officers and soldiers currently serving in the military. However, according to General Thuan, while the dependents of non-commissioned officers and soldiers currently serving in the military are already covered by state-funded health insurance, the dependents of permanent militia members are not yet.

He also stated that, according to a report from the Ministry of Defense to the National Assembly's Defense and Security Committee, if the proposal is legalized, approximately 82,000 individuals (family members) would be affected by the policy. However, since 30% of them already receive other health insurance benefits, the remaining 70% (approximately 57,000 people) would not.

Based on current contribution rates, the budget expenditure for purchasing health insurance for approximately 57,000 dependents of permanent militia and self-defense forces is about 72 billion VND per year.

"Based on our country's current development resources, we believe that allocating this funding to this target group is not a large amount. This is an early and long-term investment in strengthening national defense," Representative Tran Duc Thuan stated, earnestly requesting that National Assembly representatives consider supporting the legalization of the above regulation.