The proposal is not simply a technical adjustment, but has profound social significance: Giving more life opportunities, narrowing the gap in access to modern medicine and reducing the financial burden for many families.
Over the years, although health insurance coverage in Vietnam has reached over 90% of the population, many cancer patients still fall into the situation of having a card but still finding it difficult to treat. The main reason lies in the fact that many new drugs - especially target treatment drugs and biological products - have not been paid by the health insurance fund.
With newly invented drugs, the cost can be up to tens, even hundreds of millions of dong for each treatment course. Many families have to borrow money, sell assets, and even accept abandoning the optimal regimen because they are not able to afford it.
The Health Insurance Department (Ministry of Health) is drafting a plan to add 84 pharmaceuticals and biological products to the list paid for by the health insurance fund (HI). Notably, there are up to 30 cancer drugs - accounting for 35.7% of the total proposed drugs. Most of these are newly invented drugs, high-cost drugs, which have long been a major barrier for many patients.
The proposal is not simply a technical adjustment, but has profound social significance: Giving more life opportunities, narrowing the gap in access to modern medicine and reducing the financial burden for thousands of families.
Over the years, although health insurance coverage in Vietnam has reached over 90% of the population, many cancer patients still fall into the situation of having a card but still finding it difficult to treat. The main reason lies in the fact that many new drugs - especially target treatment drugs and biological products - have not been paid by the health insurance fund.
With newly invented drugs, the cost can be up to tens, even hundreds of millions of dong for each treatment course. Many families have to borrow money, sell assets, and even accept abandoning the optimal regimen because they are not able to afford it.
In that context, the proposal to add 30 cancer drugs to the health insurance list is a positive sign. If approved, the health insurance fund will properly perform the role of "risk sharing" - patients only have to co-pay according to the prescribed ratio, instead of bearing all costs. Reduced financial pressure means that the opportunity to comply with treatment increases, and the quality of life improves.
More importantly, this is a step forward for domestic patients to promptly access advanced treatment methods, instead of being slower than the regional and international standards. In the long term, this policy also helps the Vietnamese health system become closer to international treatment standards, quickly update scientific advances and improve the quality of care.
However, expanding the list of paid drugs always comes with pressure on the health insurance fund. Newly invented drugs are often priced high; if there is a lack of price negotiation mechanism and reasonable use control, the risk of cost increase is present. The addition of the list needs to synchronously implement solutions such as promoting centralized and transparent drug price negotiation; Strengthening professional guidance, ensuring proper use; Controlling technical abuse and fund profiteering. Only when these solutions are seriously implemented can policies achieve the "double goal": Ensuring patients' rights, while maintaining the sustainability of the fund.
The addition of 84 drugs to the health insurance payment list, including 30 cancer drugs, is not just a technical change in the policy document. It is a message about the State's companionship with patients in the battle of life and death, a step to open another "door to life" - where hope is no longer blocked by cost barriers.
