PhamLuong Son, an official from the Vietnam Social Security, made thestatement at a press conference held in Hanoi on June 10, refutingclaims of a fall in health insurance coverage rates.
He saidthat since the outset of the year, over 300,000 people sought familyhealth insurance packages, rising 3 percent from the same period lastyear.
The process to purchase family healthinsurance involves one member of the family shelling out 4.5 percent oftheir basic salary. Insurance costs for the second, third and fourthparticipants in the family will be 70 percent, 60 percent and 50 percentof the amount paid by the first member, respectively. From the fifthmember of the family on, their insurance rate amounts to 40 percent ofthe first member’s cost.
The Vietnam Social Security willwork with the Ministry of Health to address family health insuranceissues for migrant labourers and plans to open more insurance agentoffices towards bringing health insurance coverage to 75 percent.
ByMay 31, there were 64.6 million health insurance participants,accounting for 71.4 percent of the total population. Health insurancefunds have covered 17.7 trillion VND (823.3 million USD) in healthcarecosts for 50.1 million people.-VNA