“Without health insurance, I would not be living until today,” said Cao Thanh Lich, a 25-year-old man who was born with the blood disorder thalassemia.

Millions of people enjoy practical benefits from health insurance.

Lich said the disease has affected him more over the years. He has received treatment at the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion for 13 years.

He said that if he did not have health insurance, he may have died as the cost for treatment is too high, especially for a person with a low and unstable income like Lich.

“Every year, it takes billions VND for the treatment, so without support from health insurance, I and my family would never manage to afford it,” said Lich.

Over the years, the health insurance fund has paid billions of VND each year to Lich.

Meanwhile in Bach Mai Hospital’s Artificial Kidney Department, patients have to take hemodialysis every week or month to keep them alive at a cost of hundreds of millions VND each year.

Duong Thi Nhan from Hai Phong city has suffered from kidney disease since 1995. After more than 20 years of treatment, Nhan said that she spends 500,000 VND for her treatment instead of 10 million VND, thanks to social insurance.

Dam Hieu Trung, Vice Director of the Northern Centre for Medical Claim Review and Tertiary Care Payment of the Vietnam Social Security (VSS), cited statistics from the VSS showing that in the first six months of 2018, 83.82 million patients used healthcare services covered by health insurance. The health insurance fund paid for expensive treatment for thousands of patients. As many as 3,000 patients got treatment worth 200-300 million VND each, while more than 1,300 patients received services of more than 300 million VND.

Several patients got treatment worth more than 1 billion VND. Particularly, a patient in Van Don, Quang Ninh received nearly 1.4 billion VND of treatment for liver disease in Bach Mai Hospital, while another in Hue Central Hospital also got more than 1 billion VND for heart disease treatment.

The figures showed health insurance has become a lifeline for many patients suffering serious diseases requiring long-term treatment, Hieu said, calling for people to continue joining health insurance.

In Vietnam, healthcare insurance policies target all people, including students. Thanks to its prominence, health insurance for students has received support from the community as well as the Party and Government.

The insurance has proved its efficiency in caring for students’ health, easing difficulties for their families. In the first seven months of 2018, more than 4.5 million students received total payment of more than 1.28 trillion VND.

In 2017 and the first half of 2018, health insurance payment from 200 million VND was paid to 237 pupils and students. Notably, a pupil in Le Chan district of Hai Phong city, received five rounds of treatment of thrombocytopenia at the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion worth 1.8 billion VND. The most costly item was Kedrigamma medicine, which cost 720 million VND.

Millions of other patients engaging in health insurance have also enjoyed practical benefits, easing the difficulties facing them and their families in treatment./.