Social insurance work must be progressive to serve people better.

(Baonghean) - Vietnam Social Security has directed the implementation of health insurance for students in the 2015-2016 school year for the last 3 months of 2015. In 2016, it will be collected for 6 months or 12 months, and Vietnam Social Security will only accept collecting for 15 months if students wish and voluntarily pay. This is the highlight that shows the clearest viewpoint ever of Vietnam Social Security, which is considered to be positive and responsive even when there is a lot of information about some provinces and cities collecting health insurance at many different levels.

The directive document of Vietnam Social Security also stated that local Social Security should closely coordinate with the Department of Education and Training to review the inter-sectoral guidance documents, promptly adjust the guidance contents that are not in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Health Insurance and the guidance documents (if any) in organizing the collection of health insurance for students in the 2015-2016 school year. With the regulations emphasized in the above document, it has helped to avoid the situation of spontaneous collection that has occurred in many localities in the past time. In addition, the regulation of separating the time also partly helps parents save some of the costs in the total financial amounts that must be paid to the school at the beginning of the school year.

Avoid spontaneous collection

Before entering the 2015-2016 school year, Vietnam Social Security has directed the implementation of a number of health insurance collection contents. Accordingly, Joint Circular No. 41 stipulates that educational institutions are responsible for collecting the payment of the part that students are responsible for paying every 6 months or 1 year. Regarding the validity period, for students in general, health insurance cards are issued from January 1 to December 31 of that year; for first graders and first-year students, cards are issued from the date of admission (or the expiration date of the previously issued health insurance card) to December 31 of the following year; for 12th graders and final-year students, the validity period is stated on the health insurance card from January 1 to the last day of the month ending that school year. For the social insurance sector, the sector is responsible for organizing the implementation of health insurance regimes, policies, and laws, managing and using the health insurance fund (organizing collection, disbursement, investment, and resolving health insurance policies); direct local social insurance agencies to implement health insurance policies in the area.

According to Deputy Minister and General Director of Vietnam Social Security Nguyen Thi Minh, the Social Security has organized training for Social Security in provinces and cities on the content of the Law on Amendments and Supplements to a number of Articles of the Law on Health Insurance. “We are determined to maintain the principle that educational and training institutions and vocational training institutions are responsible for compiling a list of health insurance participants, and the social security organization that receives this list is responsible for presiding over and coordinating with the agencies and units managing the subjects to review before issuing health insurance cards. The contribution rate and validity period have been clearly stipulated in the law and the implementing guidelines of the state management ministries, the social security sector is responsible for serving and complying properly.

Regarding the implementation of health insurance for students in the 2015-2016 school year, Vietnam Social Security has directed local social security agencies to coordinate with the Department of Education and Training and educational institutions to organize the implementation in accordance with the actual situation of the locality. It is possible to collect and issue health insurance cards in multiple installments (3 months and 12 months or 6 months and 9 months or 15 months...) to ensure that from 2016 onwards, it will be implemented according to the fiscal year as prescribed in Circular 41 of the Ministry of Health and Finance" - General Director Nguyen Thi Minh said.

The school is the agent for collecting health insurance premiums.

Regarding the results of implementing health insurance for students of Vietnam Social Security, in the 2014-2015 school year, according to the report of the provincial Social Security, most schools have signed health insurance collection agency contracts with the Social Security agency (about 25,425 schools nationwide). At the same time, following the directive documents and the content of the agreement signed between the Social Security agency and the Education sector, in the past time, many plans have been implemented. Specifically: 5 localities organize collection according to the school year as in previous years; 58 localities organize collection according to the fiscal year, of which 8 localities collect once every 15 months; 50 localities combine many collection methods (6 months and 9 months, 9 months and 6 months or 7 months and 8 months), some localities collect 3 times (3 months of 2015, the first 6 months and the last 6 months of 2016).

Regarding the work of signing contracts for health examination and treatment under health insurance for schools with health examination and treatment facilities, in 2015, the Social Insurance agency signed contracts with 44 medical agencies belonging to schools, equivalent to commune and district levels and 9 hospitals belonging to universities equivalent to provincial and central levels; These facilities receive registration for initial health examination and treatment for students of that school and other subjects. At the beginning of the school year and course, the Social Insurance agencies of localities sent a list of initial health examination and treatment facilities to the school for students to choose, convenient for their residence and study; Students can change the place of registration for initial health examination and treatment when needed - Head of the Health Insurance Policy Implementation Department (Vietnam Social Insurance) Pham Luong Son said.

Regarding health insurance expenditure for students, in the 2014-2015 school year, the health insurance fund spent nearly 2,000 billion VND for nearly 9 million medical examinations and treatments, mainly outpatients. According to the results of the statistical survey on school health in the 2013-2014 school year of Vietnam Social Security, the preschool education system has 14,881 schools, of which the number of schools without medical rooms is 6,866; accounting for 45.1% nationwide; the number of schools with full-time staff is 6,599; 4,689 schools without full-time staff; and 3,633 schools without medical staff; The general education system includes 32,096 schools, of which the number of schools without medical rooms is 12,443; accounting for 38.7% nationwide; the number of schools with full-time staff is 15,159; 10,432 schools do not have full-time staff; 6,505 schools do not have medical staff.

The system of universities, colleges and vocational schools includes 999 schools, of which 187 schools do not have a medical room; accounting for 18.7% nationwide; 683 schools have full-time staff; 412 schools do not have full-time staff; Other schools (continuing education centers, gifted schools, sports schools...): 399 schools, of which 181 schools do not have a medical room; accounting for 45.3% nationwide; 180 schools have full-time staff; 65 schools do not have full-time staff. The total budget for primary health care in the 2013-2014 school year is 511,164 billion VND. Only 68% of this budget has been used, mainly for the following: purchasing medicine, medical consumables and medical equipment (accounting for 35.7%); Periodic health check-up expenses (accounting for 18.3%); support for paying allowances for school health staff (accounting for 11.4%); other expenses 16%.

Suitable for the actual situation

With the above reality, it requires a huge amount of investment in building medical examination and treatment facilities to serve students. However, in the process of implementing fund collection, the Social Insurance sector has encountered some difficulties and problems. Regarding the time of paying health insurance for students, the 2015 - 2016 school year is the first year of implementing Decree 105/2014/ND-CP dated November 15, 2014 of the Government and Circular No. 41/2014/TTLT-BTC-BYT dated November 24, 2014 of the Ministry of Health - Ministry of Finance, so in the process of collecting health insurance for students in the 2015 - 2016 school year, there have been some difficulties. Specifically, the contribution rate is 4.5% of the basic salary, the conversion from collecting and issuing health insurance cards according to the school year to collecting and issuing cards according to the financial year has caused some students to encounter difficulties.

General Director Nguyen Thi Minh said that in order to suit the actual situation of each locality and ensure the right to choose the appropriate payment method, Vietnam Social Security has proposed that the Government increase the level of support for health insurance contributions for students to 50%. At the same time, we have proposed that the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance amend Circular No. 41 in the direction that the card is valid for the fiscal year or school year, course; with flexible health insurance payment methods of 3 months, 6 months or 12 months. As for the Ministry of Education and Training, we propose to continue to direct schools to overcome difficulties to collect health insurance in many installments to reduce the financial burden for parents of students at the beginning of the new school year. When doing social security work, our Social Security sector must really know how to listen, have a progressive and steadfast spirit to be able to serve the people better - General Director Nguyen Thi Minh affirmed.

Red River