Proposal to support 100% of the cost of buying health insurance cards for the elderly aged 60 to under 75
According to Vietnam Social Insurance, Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance has sent a report to the City Party Committee to propose and propose supporting 100% of the cost of purchasing health insurance cards for the elderly aged 60 to under 75, who are not pensioned and are not covered by the state budget for health insurance.
This policy is profoundly humane, demonstrating the concern and care of the city government for vulnerable groups of population, to ensure that all elderly people have equal, continuous and sustainable access to healthcare services.
This proposal is also consistent with the policy of building a synchronous Social Security Resolution in the city after the merger, taking the highest support standard ever applied in the three localities (HCMC, Binh Duong, Ba Ria - Vung Tau) as a basis for building common policies.
Proposal to expand social insurance and health insurance support to many vulnerable groups
In addition, Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance also proposed expanding social insurance and health insurance support for many vulnerable groups in society such as:
- Support the entire voluntary social insurance contribution for forces participating in protecting security and order at the grassroots level (groups playing an important role in ensuring security and order in the area);
- Support funding for health insurance participation for people with serious illnesses, workers who have expired unemployment benefits but have not found a job after 3 months, orphans and people with mild disabilities; partial support for health insurance costs for students from poor and near-poor households;...
It is expected that this proposal will be submitted to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council for consideration and discussion at the end of 2025 session.
Bringing practical benefits to 2.85 million people
According to preliminary calculations, if approved and implemented, the policy will bring practical benefits to more than 2.85 million people in the above target groups, with a total implementation cost of about 1,590 billion VND per year, spent from the city budget.
The above proposal is expected to contribute to improving the health insurance coverage ratio, minimizing health risks and health finances for the elderly, especially in the context of population aging and the pressure of increasing medical examination and treatment costs.
This is also a specific step, to realize the goal of achieving the health insurance coverage rate for 95% of the population by 2025.
Currently, due to the characteristics before the administrative merger, Ho Chi Minh City is maintaining three different health insurance support policies corresponding to the three previous localities. Specifically:
In the old Ho Chi Minh City area, people aged 75 and over from poor and near-poor households in Can Gio, people with serious illnesses, orphans and children with disabilities are supported with 100% of their health insurance contributions.
In Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, people over 65 years old and poor are supported with 100% of the health insurance premium, and have additional support for travel and food allowances when receiving medical examination and treatment.
Binh Duong province supports 100% of health insurance premiums for people aged 70 and over, ethnic minorities, and people who have expired to receive unemployment benefits.
The issuance of a common policy as proposed this time will help eliminate differences between regions, towards building a unified, unified, equal and fair social welfare platform in the whole city.
With a population of nearly 14 million people and an area of over 6,700 km2, Ho Chi Minh City is facing many challenges in urbanization and rapid population aging.
In that context, proactively issuing policies to ensure social security, support vulnerable groups, increase the participation rate in health insurance and social insurance is considered an urgent requirement and a sustainable solution to help the city maintain its leading role in socio-economic development of the country.
