Under Agenda, in the morning of November 27th, the NA will vote to pass the following laws and resolutions: Law on the People's Air Defense; Law on Trade Unions (amended); NA’s Resolution on investment policy for the National Target Program on Cultural Development for the period 2025 - 2035.

In the morning, the NA also at-hall discussed about the draft Law on Employment (amended).

At the beginning of the afternoon session, the NA will vote to pass the Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance; vote to approve the Resolution on investment policy for the National Target Program on Drug Prevention and Control to 2030.

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In addition, the NA will also at-hall discuss about the draft Law on Special Consumption Tax (amended).

From 4:45 p.m., the NA will hold a separate meeting on personnel work.

The draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance was submitted to the NA by the Government in the morning of October 24th, 2024 at the 8th Session.

In the afternoon, the NA in-group discussed about about this draft Law.

In the afternoon of October 31st, at a plenary session, the NA at-hall discussed about the draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance.

On November 15th, at the 39th Session, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the plan to receive, explain and revise a number of contents of the draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance.

*** Recently, the Vietnam Social Insurance (VSI) has received numerous complaints regarding health insurance (HI) cardholders who, when visiting healthcare facilities for medical examinations and treatment, do not receive their full HI benefits as per regulations. Issues reported include: having to purchase their own medicine and medical equipment, pay for technical services that should be covered by the HI fund, the lack of air conditioning in inpatient rooms or air conditioning that is not functional, refusal to accept HI referral forms within the same fiscal year, long wait times due to excessive procedures, having to pay upfront for technical services, and not receiving reductions for co-payments at the healthcare facility when eligible.

To ensure the legitimate rights of HI participants, VSI has instructed provincial social insurance agencies to send official letters to healthcare facilities, reminding them of their responsibility to guarantee the full benefits of HI cardholders when they seek care, including:

• Healthcare facilities must follow the medical examination procedures as per Decision 1313/QD-BYT dated April 22, 2013, by the Ministry of Health and the guidelines of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management – Ministry of Health in Document 855/KCB-QLCL&CĐT dated July 5, 2023. This aims to shorten waiting times, reduce the complexity of procedures for HI beneficiaries, and improve the quality of medical services. Measures should focus on reducing waiting times for patients, such as implementing IT for registration and appointments, offering online scheduling, organizing examinations by time slots, providing clear maps for lab tests, ensuring patients do not need to collect their own test results, and eliminating the need for advance payments for tests and X-rays.

• Healthcare facilities must provide medicines, medical equipment, and technical services covered by the HI fund according to the facility's area of expertise. If a facility is unable to provide these or if it exceeds their capabilities, the facility must transfer the patient to another healthcare facility that can meet these requirements, ensuring that patients do not have to pay for treatments covered under the HI scheme (unless requested by the patient or their family).

• Inpatient rooms should meet all requirements for costs, as outlined in Clause 2, Article 3 of Circular 22/2023/TT-BYT. Facilities must not have inpatient rooms without functioning air conditioning, forcing patients to choose rooms with air conditioning upon request.

• In cases where a patient suffers from a condition listed for referral under the regulations of Appendix 1 of Circular 40/2015/TT-BYT and has been referred from another healthcare facility but arrives after the specified time on the referral letter, the receiving facility must still provide care and schedule a new appointment as per regulations. Patients should not be asked to return to the original facility to obtain a new referral.

• If the HI card indicates that a patient has participated in HI for five continuous years and their out-of-pocket expenses at a healthcare facility exceed six months' worth of the basic salary in a single or multiple visits within a fiscal year, the facility must not charge the patient an amount exceeding this limit, as per Clause 3, Article 27 of Decree 146/2018/ND-CP.

VSI has instructed the directors of provincial social insurance agencies to strengthen health insurance verification efforts. If a healthcare facility fails to fully provide benefits as per regulations, such as inadequate supply of medicine, medical equipment, or technical services, or if patients are required to self-pay for these, the facility must report this to the provincial People's Committee and the Department of Health for sanctions. Additionally, the healthcare facility must reimburse the patient in accordance with Clause 1, Article 86 of Decree 117/2020/ND-CP.