On September 25, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance.
Presenting the report, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that the Draft Law amends and supplements 40 articles on subjects participating in health insurance (HI), responsibility for payment, benefits, scope of benefits, organization of health insurance examination and treatment, fund management and some technical regulations.
In particular, the draft law amending regulations on medical examination and treatment at the right and wrong medical facilities (inter-hospital) is updated according to the technical expertise level of the 2023 Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, on the basis of maintaining a stable rate of health insurance benefits according to current law.
Eliminate referral procedures for some rare and serious diseases... to be transferred directly to higher professional levels to reduce procedures, create convenience, reduce out-of-pocket expenses for people, and save costs for the fund.
Amend regulations on initial registration for health insurance examination and treatment and transfer of patients between health insurance examination and treatment facilities to synchronize with regulations on technical expertise levels.
This is done in the direction of decentralization and delegation of authority to the Department of Health to determine the initial health insurance examination and treatment registration facilities and allocate health insurance cards in accordance with local reality based on regulations of the Minister of Health.
Examining this content, Chairman of the National Assembly's Social Committee Nguyen Thuy Anh said that the standing committee of the Social Committee basically agreed with the scope of amendments and supplements and found that the content of the draft Basic Law is consistent with the purpose and requirements of law-making.
However, the draft Law still has some adjustments such as some contents have been omitted such as policies on supplementary health insurance; some policies have been expanded such as expanding the subjects participating in compulsory health insurance; regulations on payment of medical examination and treatment costs under health insurance.
In addition, the draft Law dossier basically ensures the provisions of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents.
However, it is recommended that the Government continue to complete the component documents of the dossier, noting that the impact assessment report needs to supplement more thorough and comprehensive assessment content, especially the newly added component policies; supplement the opinions of the Ministry of Finance.
Giving his opinion on the discussion, Politburo member and National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man said that the current pressing issues are related to payment and settlement when examining and treating health insurance-covered patients, and ensuring medicine for people when going for health insurance-covered medical examination and treatment.
The National Assembly Chairman proposed that there should be no discrimination and fairness must be ensured between medical examination services and health insurance examinations.
National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man added that the proposed law applies when transferring patients between medical examination and treatment facilities, not only from district level to higher level as currently, but also adds subjects entitled to this benefit. This must ensure fairness and specific calculations of financial benefits and feasibility.
