Vietnam Traffic Accident Victims to Get Health Insurance Payment

Victims of traffic accidents who have not broken traffic laws will be eligible for health insurance to pay their hospital fees, said Head of the Vietnamese Health Ministry’s Health Insurance Department Tong Thi Song Huong. Huong released the information at a press conference in Hanoi yesterday to celebrate Health Insurance Day [July 1?, saying that an inter-ministerial circular on hospital payments for insured patients involved in traffic accidents will be issued in the coming months to address current shortcomings. The health insurance law, which took effect early 2010, regulates that insured patients who violate traffic rules cannot have their medical treatment fees covered by the health insurance fund. Many health insurance patients haven't been paid treatment costs as they could not prove that they had not violated traffic regulations. Traffic accident victims in which the causes of the accident haven't been found will get health insurance payment, Huong noted, adding that victims will, then, have to pay for medical treatment by themselves in case of traffic law violations. The health insurance and traffic police sectors would be in charge of traffic accident investigation, she added. Health insurance covered nearly 51 million Vietnamese people, making up nearly 60% its total population by end-2010, posting an increase of 11 million people compared with 2008. (www.baodatviet.vn June 23, Vietnam News June 23 p3)