Photo: Internet

Thereby, it contributes to build trust for people in the health insurance policies of the Government and the State.

In 2021, the insurance sector continuously updated legal documents to guide its branches in provinces and cities as well as medical facilities to implement solutions to ensure the benefits of health insurance participants in accordance with the development of the pandemic.

The overall goal is to ensure that health insurance participants will benefit when they go to medical facilities as well as ensuring medical facilities have enough resources to meet the demands of people in terms of examination and treatment during the pandemic.

Viet Nam Social Security issued Official Dispatch No 2172/BHXH-CSYT on July 22, 2021, guiding the payment of COVID-19 testing costs for health insurance participants.

It also issued Official Dispatch No 2259/BHXH-CSYT on July 29, 2021 to instruct the payment of medical expenses, covered by health insurance, during the pandemic in medical facilities, including medical facilities that converted to treat COVID-19 patients and newly-established field hospitals.

The agency issued Official Dispatch No 3242/BHXH-CSYT on October 15, 2021, asking relevant agencies to co-operate with the health departments of provinces and cities and local medical facilities to conduct medical treatment for health insurance participants in a convenient, safe and appropriate manner to comply with the pandemic developments in each locality.

Photo: Internet

The official dispatch noted that it should pay more attention to patients, who are told to be tested for COVID-19 and who have to perform functional rehabilitation of the sequelae of movement and respiratory functions after COVID-19 treatment.

The official dispatch was issued after the Government promulgated Resolution 128/NQ-CP that temporarily stipulated "safely adapting, flexibly and effectively managing the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Moreover, the agency worked with medical facilities, which registered to examine and treat health insurance participants, to use VssID – the digital social insurance application during the third and fourth waves of the pandemic.

Thus, health insurance participants could use the application, which could be easily installed on their mobile phones, instead of using printed health insurance cards for examinations and treatment at medical facilities.

The agency deployed a range of measures to create more convenience for health insurance participants during the pandemic such as instructing medical facilities on how to implement procedures to change the place of examination and treatment for health insurance participants to suit the pandemic situation; or how to send medicines for health insurance participants, who could not go to the medical facility following their doctor’s appointment due to social distancing.

The agency had also coordinated with medical facilities to provide enough drugs to chronic patients to use for between two and three months, avoiding the situation in which patients have to go to the medical facilities many times during the pandemic.

If a health insurance participant gets sick during their quarantine period due to the pandemic, he or she is still given medicines and the health insurance fund will cover the payment for him or her as normal.

The agency had made efforts to create favourable conditions for the health insurance participants to be examined and treated at another medical facility if the medical facility that they often visit was under quarantine or locked down.

The agency covered the payment for testing costs for SARS-CoV-2 for health insurance participants as per regulations.

It is estimated that the agency has paid nearly VND200 billion (US$8.8 million) for the testing costs so far. /