The Ministry of Health has just sent a document to Vietnam Social Insurance (VSS) regarding the payment of health insurance (HI) medical examination and treatment costs exceeding the estimate and not yet recovering the cost of technical services performed on medical equipment that has not been fully established and owned by the entire population before March 4, 2023.
According to the Ministry of Health, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has repeatedly made recommendations about this situation of late payment. In 2023, health insurance medical facilities in Ho Chi Minh City will have costs exceeding the estimate of 557.5 billion VND; this figure in 2024 is expected to be about 1,950 billion VND.
Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance has appraised, appraised and sent to Vietnam Social Insurance, and is at the same time recovering costs for technical services performed on medical equipment that have not completed procedures to establish public ownership.
The Ministry of Health said that the failure to pay and the prolonged waiting time for payment for costs exceeding the estimate has caused many facilities to face difficulties in funding sources, an imbalance in revenue and expenditure, outstanding medical supplies from businesses and directly affecting the rights of health insurance participants.
With the costs of implementing on medical equipment that have not been fully established and owned by the entire people, the Ministry of Health has issued an official dispatch requesting Vietnam Social Insurance to temporarily suspend the collection until a decision is made by the Government. The Ministry is also synthesizing and reporting to the Government on this issue.
Regarding costs exceeding the 2023 estimate, the Ministry of Health requested that Vietnam Social Insurance urgently report to the Ministry of Finance for submission to the Government for approval, in order to promptly pay to medical examination and treatment facilities, including Ho Chi Minh City. With the expected increase in 2024, the Ministry requires compliance with the provisions of the Law on Health Insurance and related decrees.
The Ministry of Health also emphasized that Vietnam Social Insurance needs to direct provincial and municipal Social Insurance to advance health insurance examination and treatment costs according to the rate and number of advance payments prescribed in Article 32 of the Law on Health Insurance, in order to ensure funding to serve people and maintain medical examination and treatment activities.
In just two years, 2023 and 2024, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health recorded that the Social Insurance agency has not yet paid the cost exceeding the estimated cost of health insurance examination and treatment for hospitals with an amount of nearly VND 2,500 billion.
