Nghe An Shortens time and reduces all procedures for issuing health insurance cards for children under 6 years old

The time to issue health insurance cards for children under 6 years old is significantly shortened and very convenient.

Simplify and shorten the time to issue health insurance cards

On the morning of March 16, 2020, Mr. V.D. Tuan in Tan Hoa block, Ha Huy Tap ward (Vinh city) went to the ward People's Committee to register the birth of his second daughter. Mr. Tuan was very surprised and also very happy when, in addition to completing the birth registration procedures, he was also guided by the ward's judicial staff to complete the issuance of free health insurance cards for children under 6 years old: "I find this very convenient and convenient for citizens to save time and effort in completing procedures," Mr. Tuan shared.

Since the beginning of March, Ha Huy Tap ward has had 16 babies born. All information about the babies when their parents completed birth registration procedures has been updated by judicial officials to the database system, the Justice - Social Insurance portal.

Ms. Thai Thi Viet Ha - a judicial officer of Ha Huy Tap ward said: “With the traditional process, people come to register their children's birth at the People's Committee of the ward or commune, then the documents are sent to relevant agencies, including: Justice - Civil status officers, Police and District Social Insurance via the Post Office to issue Birth Certificates, Permanent Residence Registration and Health Insurance Cards. But now, through the Data Interconnection System, the Department of Receiving and Returning the Results of Commune Administrative Records only needs to create a record on the system and immediately send it to relevant agencies. This helps synchronize information between units; fast speed (because it does not depend on the Post Office, clerical department...) and convenient for exchanging and resolving administrative procedures quickly and accurately. Commune People's Committee officers do not need to submit and receive documents directly at the District Social Insurance agency, helping to save time and travel costs but still ensuring that Health Insurance cards are issued to people earlier than prescribed".

Citizens carry out birth registration procedures and issue health insurance cards for children at the People's Committee of wards and communes. Photo: Nguyen Son

According to estimates from the Social Insurance Agency of Nghe An province: Connecting birth registration data and issuing health insurance cards for children under 6 years old with the national database is a big step forward in administrative procedure reform, helping to save maximum time and costs for people; at the same time, improving the management and service efficiency of State agencies. From March 1, 2020, Nghe An began to connect birth registration data and issuing health insurance cards for children under 6 years old with the national database, issuing health insurance cards according to the new process. To date, the provincial Social Insurance has issued 5,744 new health insurance cards for children. Previously, it took 12-15 days to issue health insurance cards for children under 6 years old, but now it has been shortened by half. It even took the Social Insurance agency less than 1 day to get a health insurance card for children.

Provincial Social Insurance officers disseminate policies to people. Photo: Thanh Chung

Mr. Nguyen Ba Cuong - Deputy Head of the Card Issuance Department, Nghe An Social Insurance said: “In general, the process of issuing free health insurance cards for children is operating smoothly and effectively. Through this form, it helps reduce time and save costs in handling administrative procedures; creating great convenience for people, especially in villages and hamlets far from the center, not having to travel and wait for a long time to handle related procedures in this field as before; overcoming the situation of children who have registered their birth but have not been registered in the household register and issued health insurance cards”.

Enhance responsibility, create convenience for people

The policy of issuing health insurance cards to children under 6 years old is the right and necessary thing to do to create conditions for all children to receive free health care support from the State budget. In order to simplify and shorten the time for birth registration and issuance of health insurance cards for children under 6 years old, in 2019, the Ministry of Information and Communications chaired and coordinated with the Vietnam Social Security and the Ministry of Justice to pilot the connection and sharing of information through the System of connecting and interconnecting information systems at the central and local levels (NGSP) to connect and share information on birth registration to issue health insurance cards for children under 6 years old according to the provisions of Joint Circular No. 05/2015/TTLT-BTP-BCA-BYT dated May 15, 2015 of the Ministry of Justice - Ministry of Public Security - Ministry of Health.

With the health insurance fund, children under 6 years old will receive free, comprehensive health care.

After 1 month of piloting data connection in 13 provinces and cities, more than 15,000 cases of children were issued birth certificates and health insurance cards. From the pilot results, on November 21, 2019, the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Justice, and Vietnam Social Security jointly organized the opening ceremony of the specialized social insurance database and connected household registration management information through national information systems to serve the connection of birth registration and issuance of health insurance cards for children under 6 years old with the Health Insurance Card Issuance System via the NGSP Axis (vertical connection in the e-Government architecture).

The connection of data is secured, birth registration data is received from the electronic birth registration system of the Ministry of Justice according to the provisions of law and instructions of the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Information and Communications on ensuring security, information safety and protection of personal privacy. The implementation of issuing health insurance cards for children under 6 years old is carried out according to the provisions of the Law on Health Insurance and the provisions of the law on protecting State secrets, and is only used in the field of management of issuing health insurance cards for children under 6 years old.

With many benefits and effectiveness, the People's Committee of Nghe An province has promptly directed relevant departments and branches to implement. On February 25, 2020, the Department of Justice and the Provincial Social Insurance organized a Conference to deploy the connection and interconnection of birth registration data and issuance of health insurance cards for children under 6 years old in the province with the participation of districts, cities and towns in the province. On February 26, 2020, the Department of Justice and the Provincial Social Insurance of Nghe An province agreed to issue Inter-sectoral Instruction No. 195/HDLN-STP-BHXH on connecting and interconnecting birth registration data to issue health insurance cards for children under 6 years old in Nghe An province. The provincial Social Insurance and the Department of Justice, based on their functions and tasks, have directed and guided their affiliated units to implement the contents, ensuring that the issuance of health insurance cards for children under 6 years old is carried out in a connected manner, simultaneously on the data system, on time for administrative procedures and information security.

With the health insurance fund, children under 6 years old will receive free, comprehensive health care. Photo: Nguyen Son

The Social Insurance and the District Justice Department have organized training courses for Social Insurance officers and Justice officers at the commune level. Since March 1, 2020, all children under 6 years old in the province have been issued health insurance cards through data interconnection. Within 24 hours of receiving birth registration data from the Commune People's Committee, the Provincial Social Insurance will print health insurance cards; hand them over to the Post Office to send health insurance cards to the Commune People's Committee or directly to the father (mother) or guardian through the Post Office. Currently, the implementation of interconnection to issue health insurance cards for children under 6 years old is being carried out quite smoothly, all problems are being addressed and resolved by the Social Insurance and Justice sectors.

Mr. Le Truong Giang - Director of Nghe An Social Insurance affirmed: "Issuing health insurance cards for children under 6 years old through connecting birth registration data is a big step forward in connecting, connecting, and sharing data between ministries, branches, and localities to ensure the rights of children under 6 years old. Close coordination between levels and branches during the implementation process is extremely important. In the coming time, the provincial Social Insurance and the Department of Justice will continue to coordinate with relevant levels and branches to issue health insurance cards to children under 6 years old in the province for the right subjects, promptly, accurately, and in accordance with regulations".

According to statistics from the Ministry of Justice, nationwide every day, about 8,000 birth registration records for children under 6 years old can be transferred to the Social Insurance to issue health insurance cards, accounting for more than 1% of public administrative transactions between citizens and administrative agencies and public service units.