>> 16 million poor people granted health insurance cards

>> Without health insurance, poor stay away from hospitals

Up to 34 million of the country’s 87.5 million population had not bought health insurance as of June this year.

Up to 34 million of the country’s 87.5 million population had not bought health insurance as of June this year.

The information was released by Pham Luong Son, Head of the Vietnam Social Insurance’s Board on Health Insurance Policies at a conference on October 17 to review the two-year implementation of the Health Insurance Law.

The areas with the highest rate of health insurance were the mid-lands and northern mountainous localities with 77%, particularly Bac Kan, Ha Giang, Lai Chau, Son La and Cao Bang with up to 95% coverage.

The area with the lowest rate was Mekong Delta region with less than 50% of its total population covered. The provinces of Tay Ninh, Binh Phuoc, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, Dong Thap and Hau Giang ranked bottom with rates of below 45%.

In 2010, nearly 2,200 health centres signed contracts with social insurance agencies, including 1,900 state and 300 private firms. Around 60% of health stations at a communal level nationwide offered medical services via health insurance, up 10% against 2009.

Problems remain

According to Tong Thi Song Huong, Director of the Health Ministry\'s Health Insurance Department, the two-year implementation process of the Health Insurance Law still faces problems.

Many hospitals continue to suffer from over-crowding, forcing patients to stand in line to wait for medical check ups and share sick-beds. Many patients are therefore reluctant to buy health insurance due to the poor quality of medical services.

Statistics by the Vietnam Social Insurance indicated that by the end of 2010, nearly two million children under the age of six had not yet been provided with health insurance cards. This was attributed to lax co-operation between the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and social insurance agencies. Lists of eligible children were only slowly handed over to insurance agencies.

Among the total 12 million workers nationwide, but only 6.3 million have health insurance. The majority without insurance are overwhelmingly employed in the private sector. The reason for the poor coverage was put down to mean employers being unprepared to pay their contributions, while employees were also slow in making the most of their health insurance benefits.

By late 2010, just 800,000 out of the total six million households on the poverty line in Vietnam had health insurance.