Ministry of Finance issues plan to implement Directive on universal health insurance
01/10/2026 03:55 PM
The Ministry of Finance issues a Plan to implement Directive No. 52-CT/TW of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat, aiming to achieve 95.5% of the population participating in health insurance (HI) by 2026 and achieving universal HI by 2030. The Plan focuses on completing policies, developing the number of participants, and expanding HI benefits.
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The Ministry of Finance has issued Decision No. 2717/QD-BTC dated September 29, 2026, together with the Plan to implement Decision No. 844/QD-TTg dated May 13, 2026 of the Prime Minister on implementing Directive No. 52-CT/TW dated October 3, 2025 of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat on universal HI in the new period. The Plan identifies key tasks, focusing on completing policies, developing the number of participants, expanding the scope of HI benefits, and promoting the application of information technology.
The Plan aims to identify key tasks and assign responsibilities to improve the effectiveness of coordination among units under the Ministry of Finance in implementing the tasks assigned under Decision No. 844/QD-TTg; at the same time, to synchronously implement tasks to achieve the goal of universal HI in the new period.
One of the emphasized contents is “thoroughly and fully undertand the viewpoints, objectives, tasks and solutions of Directive No. 52-CT/TW dated October 3, 2025 of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat on implementing universal HI in the new period (Directive No. 52-CT/TW). Raising awareness and responsibility of all levels, sectors, organizations and people regarding HI in the new period; creating a strong shift in awareness and action, and determining that participation in HI is the right and responsibility of every citizen and the entire society.”
One of the task groups identified in the Plan is to strengthen leadership and guidance to effectively implement policies, laws, programs and plans on HI, and to innovate the dissemination and education of HI laws.
Accordingly, units under the Ministry of Finance shall “innovating the content and forms of information and policy advocacy of the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws on HI, focusing on key and priority areas and tailoring them to each target group, …”.
The Plan also requires “strengthening communication and mobilization to develop the number of HI participants, focusing on household-based HI participants; organizing the exploitation of the National Population Database and national databases on insurance and specialized databases to review and identify groups that have not yet participated or whose participation is not continuous; developing solutions to mobilize and sustainably increase the number of HI participants.” At the same time, developing a project to innovate and improve the effectiveness of communication, dissemination and legal education on HI in the new period.
The Plan also sets out the task of strengthening the monitoring, inspection and supervision of the implementation of specific tasks, solutions and roadmaps on HI that have been developed and organized for implementation; coordinating with the Ministry of Health and relevant ministries and sectors to amend, supplement and improve policies and laws on HI to meet the goal of universal HI. This includes reviewing, developing and completing the system of legal documents on HI; developing mechanisms and piloting and diversifying HI packages, and implementing supplementary HI according to people’s needs.
A notable content is the gradual increase in HI contribution rates from 2027 in line with the expansion of the scope of benefits and HI benefit levels according to the roadmap; in which, continuing to increase support for HI contributions for policy beneficiaries, people from near-poor households, people with disabilities, vulnerable groups and other priority groups, ensuring sustainability and increasing the proportion of the population participating in HI.
The Plan requires strengthening the capacity of state management agencies and social security offices in effectively managing and using the HI fund and maintaining the fund balance. This includes closely and synchronously coordinating with state management agencies in implementing HI guidelines and policies. It also requires strengthening and improving the capacity of state management advisory agencies under the Ministry in managing and using the HI fund; strengthening measures to prevent and combat waste, excessive collection and abuse of the HI fund, coordinating with the Ministry of Health to develop and implement methods for payment of HI-covered medical examination and treatment costs; developing professional materials to guide the preparation of estimated expenditures and adjustment of estimated expenditures for HI-covered medical examination and treatment, …
The plan also requires diversifying and expanding revenue sources, ensuring the sustainability and development of the HI fund in order to further expand the scope of benefits and implement measures to reduce the burden of medical expenses forn patients. Focusing on expanding the number of HI participants, promoting household-based HI coverage, and striving to achieve the target of a HI coverage rate of over 95.5% by 2026 and universal HI coverage by 2030.
Another group of tasks identified by the Ministry of Finance is to promote the application of information technology, digital transformation and administrative reform in the HI sector. Accordingly, this includes completing information technology systems, promoting administrative reform and comprehensive digital transformation in the HI sector; upgrading information systems serving HI management, assessment and payment; strengthening the application of artificial intelligence and big data in analyzing, warning, and monitoring costs, detection of abnormalities, and improving the quality and effectiveness of HI management and HI-covered medical examination and treatment./.
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