On the afternoon of October 31, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance.
Discussing this content, National Assembly Delegate Thach Phuoc Binh (Tra Vinh Provincial Delegation) proposed that people over 60 years old (not yet participating in health insurance) be supported by the State budget to pay for health insurance.
According to the Law on the Elderly, people aged 60 and over are elderly people who receive social policy attention from the state.
According to current regulations, elderly people aged 80 and over who do not receive monthly allowances are entitled to social allowances and health insurance cards guaranteed by the state budget.
According to the Law on Social Insurance 2024 (effective from July 1, 2025), elderly people aged 75 and over who do not have a pension are entitled to receive social pension benefits and have a health insurance card paid by the state budget. However, for people aged 60 and over but under 75 who do not receive a pension or benefits, they do not have a health insurance card paid by the state.
Therefore, the delegate proposed to include the group of subjects from 60 to 80 years old; from July 1, 2025, people from 60 to under 75 years old will receive state support to pay health insurance.
The delegate said that currently, there are about 17 million elderly people nationwide, of which about 14.6 million elderly people have participated in health insurance and are subjects according to the provisions of the Law on Health Insurance.
“Thus, there are about 2.4 million people over 60 years old who have not participated in health insurance. Many of them have low income, even very low income and need medical support. Support from the State budget for this group will help reduce financial pressure for them and ensure social security,” said the delegate.
The delegate also proposed that the beneficiaries of health insurance support should be people who have escaped poverty. The delegate stated that every year, 300,000 people nationwide escape poverty, of which about 150,000 people still face financial difficulties.
Therefore, according to the delegate, the proposal to support health insurance payments of 50-70% for this group in the first 3-5 years after escaping poverty is very appropriate, in order to avoid falling back into poverty due to high medical costs.
The delegate proposed adding another subject to be supported in paying health insurance, which is people who have achieved the title of People's Artisan, People's Artist, Meritorious Artisan, and Meritorious Artist.
According to the delegate, the country currently has 2,500 people's artisans, people's artists, meritorious artisans, and meritorious artists. The majority still face difficulties in maintaining a stable income and high medical costs in old age, especially in remote areas and areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions.
"Supporting health insurance from the State budget and supporting the contribution level will help maintain the health of the country's cultural and artistic workforce, in line with the cultural program in the coming period, ensuring the sustainable development of intangible cultural heritage" - the delegate expressed his opinion.
Adding the elderly group to the group supported by the State budget for health insurance is also the opinion of National Assembly delegate Nguyen Thi Lan Anh (Lao Cai province delegation). According to the delegate, in reality, there is still a lack of policies on health insurance support for the elderly group.
Therefore, delegate Nguyen Thi Lan Anh suggested that the drafting agency consider adding the group of elderly people without health insurance as the subjects receiving state budget support for health insurance payment in this draft law.
