Giving social insurance books and health insurance cards to people in difficult circumstances in Hanoi. (Photo illustration by VSS)

The Ministry of Health has issued document No. 4759/BYT-VPB regarding the response to the petition sent by voters of Vinh Long province to the 9th Session of the 15th National Assembly.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Health responded to the petition related to the management of the health sector. One of the interesting contents of the document is that voters proposed a policy to support 100% of health insurance for near-poor households nationwide, instead of the current 70% support.

According to the provisions of the Law on Health Insurance, people in near-poor households are supported by the state budget with 70% of the health insurance premium, while near-poor people residing in poor communes according to the Prime Minister 's decision have been supported by the state budget with 100% of the premium. This is the content of Decree No. 188/2025/ND-CP dated July 1, 2025 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance, effective from August 15, 2025.

This support policy aims to facilitate access to medical examination and treatment services through health insurance for groups of people with difficult economic circumstances.

The provision of 100% support for the near-poor is not currently regulated to be applied nationwide. However, some localities have proactively used local budgets to support the remaining portion (30%) to ensure that the near-poor fully participate in health insurance. This demonstrates the flexibility and role of local authorities in expanding health insurance coverage in accordance with the socio-economic conditions in each locality.

In the coming time, the Ministry of Health will continue to coordinate with ministries, branches and relevant agencies to summarize and evaluate the effectiveness of the policy to support the near-poor to participate in health insurance. At the same time, the study will propose adjusting the level of support from the state budget in a direction consistent with the conditions of balancing the central and local budgets, gradually moving towards 100% health insurance coverage for the near-poor group, contributing to ensuring fairness in access to health services and achieving the goal of universal health insurance coverage.

It is known that according to the results of the review of poor and near-poor households in 2024 according to the multidimensional poverty standards for the period 2022-2025 announced by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (formerly) in February 2025, the multidimensional poverty rate, including the rate of poor and near-poor households, in 2024 nationwide is 4.06%. The total number of multidimensional poor and near-poor households is 1,258,997 households.

Thus, compared to the results announced last year, the multidimensional poverty rate in 2024 decreased by 1.65% compared to 2023. At the same time, the total number of multidimensional poor and near-poor households in 2024 also decreased by more than 327 thousand households compared to 2023.

One of the targets of the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction for the 2021-2025 period is to maintain a reduction in the rate of poor households according to the multidimensional poverty standard of 1-1.5%/year. At the same time, to contribute to solving the shortage of basic social services, including the shortage of health care, the Program sets a target of 100% of poor and near-poor households being supported to participate in health insurance.

According to vietnamplus.vn

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/an-sinh-xa-hoi/se-nghien-cuu-de-xuat-nang-muc-ho-tro-nguoi-can-ngheo-tham-gia-bao-hiem-y-te-156067.html