On December 31, the People's Council of Kien Giang province approved a draft resolution regulating the level of health insurance support for ethnic minorities living in border areas in the province.
It is expected that about 6,600 ethnic minorities living in border areas without health insurance support policies in My Duc and Dong Ho wards of Ha Tien city and Phu My commune, Giang Thanh district will be supported with 100% of health insurance premiums. The support period is 2 years, from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026, with a total budget of more than 8.3 billion VND from the state budget.
Currently, My Duc and Dong Ho wards (Ha Tien city) and Phu My commune (Giang Thanh district) are wards and communes in the border area of ethnic minorities but are not in the area as prescribed in Point c, Clause 5, Article 4 of Decree 146/2018/ND-CP supplemented by Point C, Article 1 of Decree 75/2023/ND-CP dated October 19, 2023. Therefore, people here are not entitled to health insurance policies, and access to social services, especially health care, is limited.
In addition, the rate of ethnic minorities being granted health insurance cards and the rate of medical examination and treatment using health insurance cards is still low, not reaching the rate as directed by the Provincial Party Committee and the Resolution of the Provincial People's Council on health insurance. The average rate of Giang Thanh district and Ha Tien city is 86.19%, while the general regulation is from 94%.
Therefore, the support of health insurance for ethnic minorities in My Duc ward, Dong Ho ward and Phu My commune shows the attention and support of the Party and State on health insurance policy, and also helps people realize the importance of having a health insurance card.
According to the Provincial People's Committee, in recent years, with the attention and support of the Central Government, many ethnic programs and policies have been invested and supported in the province, especially in remote communes and ethnic minority areas. The implementation of ethnic programs and policies has always received the attention and direction of the Provincial Party Committee, People's Councils and People's Committees at all levels.
Ha Tien City has 7 administrative units including 5 wards and 2 communes. According to the results of the delimitation of communes and hamlets in ethnic minority and mountainous areas according to the development level in the period 2021-2025, Ha Tien City has 2 wards in area I (My Duc ward and Phao Dai ward); 2 border wards (Dong Ho and My Duc wards). The total population of the city is nearly 13,000 households with about 49,500 people. Of which, ethnic minorities are nearly 2,300 households, more than 7,800 people. Ethnic groups living in the area: Hoa, Khmer, Cham, Tay, Muong, Thai, of which the Khmer is the largest, accounting for 13.28%.
Giang Thanh district has 5 administrative units, all of which are border communes with 29 hamlets and 178 self-governing People's Groups. Currently, Phu My commune does not have a health insurance policy for ethnic minorities according to regulations. The whole district has nearly 8,300 households with more than 30,000 people; the Khmer ethnic group accounts for 21.63%.