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The coverage of health insurance for students has steadily grown, gradually increasing over the past years.

Data from Viet Nam Social Security revealed that the number of students participating in health insurance reached about 15.9 million in the 2015-16 school year, accounting for 92.5 per cent of the total students nationwide. The number was over 16 million in the 2016-17 school year, equal to 93 per cent of total students nationwide.

This growth was thanks to the attention of the entire political system, Viet Nam Social Security said.

Moreover, Viet Nam Social Security’s branches in 63 provinces and cities have actively co-operated with local Education and Training Departments to encourage students to participate in health insurance.  

Deputy General Director of Viet Nam Social Security Tran Dinh Lieu said that we had many opportunities to achieve the goal of 100 per cent of students participating in health insurance.

The implementation of the policy was uniformly legalised. It was compulsory and an important step in the process of implementing universal health insurance in our country, he added.

The development of the students’ participation in health insurance had witnessed remarkable progress in recent years, he said.

The awareness of both those who worked in the health insurance sector and parents of students had been raised in recent years, he said.

All stakeholders were deeply aware that health insurance was a right that was closely linked with the interests of children, he said.

Besides, the schools taught their students the importance of participating in health insurance, so the students knew participation was a responsibility for the community, he said.

Teachers of the schools had also changed their minds on the responsibility to encourage their students to participate in health insurance. They had actively persuaded the students to participate in health insurance after they learned of its importance instead of thinking it was only a task assigned by the Ministry of Education, he said.

Lieu said that nearly 5 per cent of students had yet to participate in health insurance. Therefore, the task of encouraging them to participate was very important, especially while the country faced the developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, because giving healthcare to people required stable resources from the Health Insurance Fund.

As per regulations, health insurance is compulsory for every citizen in the country. The provision aims to ensure the right to receive healthcare for everyone that is specified in the Constitution.

The compulsory participation in health insurance is believed to be a very humanistic policy./.