Vietnam to Include All Costs in Medical Service Fees from 2018: Ministry

The fees for medical services, including diagnosis and treatment, in Vietnam will be adjusted to cover the fluctuations in prices of electricity, other goods and services, according to a scheme proposed by Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung in a report to the country’s top legislative body National Assembly on May 23. Under a joint circular being built by the Ministry of Health (MoH) has asked and coordinated with the Ministry of Finance, the costs that will be included in the calculation are: (1) medicines, direct equipment, (2) electricity, water, waste treatment, (3) asset maintenance, (4) salary and allowance, (5) large asset repair, (6) asset amortization, and (7) medical research and training. Since 2014, prices of healthcare services at state-owned facilities have added only the first three costs. People seeking medical treatment with health insurance coverage will not be heavily affected by the hike in prices of medical services as starting in January 2015 the insurance will cover 100% of the costs of underprivileged group and 80% for the regular insurance card holders. Vietnam has about 23.7 million underprivileged people with health insurance, or 26.3% of the total population, of which 14.7 million are poor, ethnic minority and live in remote mountainous or island areas and nearly 9 million are children. However, for people receiving pay-as-you-go medical services at privatized facilities, the MoH proposed including all of the above costs in the pricing plan, which is slated to be finalized by end-2015 or in early 2016 and take effect starting in 2018, the ministry noted. (vneconomy.vn May 23)