List of families participating in health insurance: Towards universal health insurance

(Baonghean) - Implementing the direction of Vietnam Social Security, at the end of October 2015, Nghe An Social Security advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue an official dispatch to deploy the list of families participating in health insurance in the province. Although there were many difficulties in the implementation process, initially positive results were achieved.

Policy officers of Nghi Phu commune (Vinh city) collect declaration forms of households participating in health insurance.

Ms. Hoang Thi Hong in Hamlet 4, Nghi An Commune (Vinh City) said: “My family used to be granted health insurance for the poor, but in 2014 my family escaped poverty so we were no longer granted free health insurance. However, my whole family bought family health insurance. In 2015, I was seriously ill and had to go to the hospital regularly. Thanks to health insurance, I saved money on medical examination and treatment.”

Mr. Pham Gia Van - Deputy Director of Nghe An Social Insurance said: "According to statistics of the provincial Social Insurance sector, currently the whole province has 76.95% of the population participating in health insurance. Thus, there are still more than 23% of the population, equivalent to more than 690,000 people who have not participated in health insurance and have not enjoyed primary health care services. Implementing the Government's Decision on implementing the health insurance roadmap for the period 2015 - 2020, Nghe An strives for the health insurance coverage rate in the province to reach over 80.7% by 2020.

Therefore, the compilation of the list of households participating in health insurance is considered a detailed census, through which we can accurately grasp the health insurance participation situation of each locality. This is the basis for developing solutions to expand the subjects, moving towards universal health insurance, associated with the development of social security in localities.

As of March 14, 2016, the whole province had 734,719 households declaring the list of households participating in health insurance, reaching 93.4% of the total number of households in the whole province. Hung Nguyen district is one of the localities that has implemented the list well with the declaration rate reaching 98.4%. Mr. Tran Duy Son - Director of the district Social Insurance said: "The list of households participating in health insurance in the district initially encountered many difficulties. However, thanks to the active participation and coordination of the district Post Office and the People's Committees of communes and towns, up to now, our locality has done a good job of declaring the list, basically people understand their rights when participating in health insurance".

Mr. Nguyen Huu Thong - Vice Chairman of Hung Tan Commune People's Committee said: "To effectively conduct the investigation and make a list, the commune has a creative approach: each residential group does not necessarily have to establish a declaration group but will establish many groups, including members of departments, branches, and organizations, thereby shortening the investigation time and actively propagating and widely disseminating the benefits of participating in health insurance to the people".

Along with Hung Nguyen, some localities have implemented well the list of households participating in health insurance such as Thanh Chuong, Con Cuong, Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Quy Chau, Que Phong, Nghia Dan, Hung Nguyen... However, there are still some localities with low declaration rates, inaccurate and incomplete information, the situation of declaring and duplicating household and population information is still quite common such as Vinh City, Dien Chau, Nghia Dan, Thai Hoa town..., affecting the quality and objectives of the list making work. The reason is that people's awareness of the list of households participating in health insurance is not complete, leading to indifference and lack of active cooperation in the list declaration. The declaration and population management at the local level are not implemented in accordance with regulations...

To complete the list of households participating in health insurance in the province before March 31, Mr. Pham Gia Van said: "From March 8, the provincial Social Insurance has directed the district Social Insurance to assign staff directly to each commune to work with the commune-level steering committee and declaration teams to collect information on form DK01 to ensure efficiency and progress.

For communes with low DK01 sample collection rates, the Director and Deputy Director of the District Social Insurance must go directly to the commune to coordinate with the steering committee for implementation. Do not arrange other work contents for the staff in charge of compiling the list of household health insurance in communes that have not completed 100% of the population declaration. The staff in charge of household health insurance must regularly be on duty at the assigned locality, daily report the progress of implementation to the Director of the District Social Insurance; deploy staff and civil servants to work overtime to focus on performing assigned tasks.

Along with that, promote propaganda work so that people understand the purpose and meaning of making a list of households participating in health insurance. Thereby raising the awareness and responsibility of each person when participating in declaring the list, contributing to increasing the rate of universal health insurance coverage in the province.

Mai Anh