Health insurance cards will be issued quarterly.

To achieve the target of 75% of the population participating in health insurance this year, the Vietnam Social Security will soon implement several innovations to make it easier for people to access health insurance card sales agents. In particular, the Social Security agency will issue health insurance cards quarterly, and people will be able to purchase health insurance directly at their primary healthcare facility.

According to representatives from the Vietnam Social Insurance, currently, those participating in family-based health insurance must pay an annual fee of 621,000 VND per person per year for the first person. The second, third, and fourth persons pay 70%, 60%, and 50% respectively of the first person's contribution. From the fifth person onwards, the contribution is only 40% of the first person's contribution. If a family of five purchases health insurance, the total amount payable by the whole family is nearly 2 million VND. However, on average, each person only pays 33,000 VND per month.

To make it easier for people to participate in health insurance, the Ministry of Health and the Vietnam Social Security have agreed to issue health insurance cards quarterly. Accordingly, instead of paying for health insurance cards once a year, people will soon be able to pay for half a year or three months in advance.

In addition, to address the issue of many people not knowing where to buy health insurance cards due to the unstable and unprofessional sales network at communes, wards, and post offices, the Vietnam Social Security will expand its health insurance card sales network in the near future.

According to Mr. Pham Luong Son, Head of the Health Insurance Policy Implementation Board of the Vietnam Social Security, as of May 31st, 64.6 million people nationwide had participated in health insurance, an increase of 2.7 million people, equivalent to 4.4%, compared to the same period in 2014, reaching a coverage rate of 71.4% of the population.

The goal for the end of 2015 is for the whole country to strive to achieve at least 75% of the population participating in health insurance. However, the implementation of the Health Insurance Law still faces many difficulties and challenges, including the lack of decisive implementation plans in many localities; infrequent and ineffective public awareness campaigns; cumbersome procedures for registration and compiling lists of health insurance participants... In particular, the health insurance participation rate among target groups has not yet reached the set plan.

According to the Communist Party of Vietnam