On February 6, 2017, the Government approved Resolution No 19-2017/NQ-CP, which tasks Vietnam Social Security with “deliberating the issuance of electronic health insurance cards, towards integrating social insurance and unemployment insurance into a single, unified electronic card.”

Vietnam Social Security has carefully conducted studies and reviewed relevant legal documents, building a detailed plan and a draft Prime Minister’s Decision on the issuance of electronic cards to hold discussions with all concerned ministries and agencies, medical institutions and banks.

At the moment, as the information technology infrastructure nears completion, Vietnam Social Security has a centralised database on the insured population and other specialised insurance activities (for example, the issuance of identifying numbers – social security numbers – for the insured). In addition, the insured and medical institutions have also familiarised themselves with looking up health insurance information on the online health insurance verification and authorisation portal, providing a solid foundation for the implementation of the electronic health insurance cards in the future.

In the roadmap set out, from January 1, 2020, the insurance agencies will start issuing electronic health insurance cards for the insured.

For those with health insurance, those with physical insurance cards will have theirs converted automatically into electronic cards without the need for any additional documents. Most importantly, the insured will no longer have to carry with them personal ID documents as the verification will be conducted with biometrics such as fingerprints or facial features, resulting in smoother procedures with less hassle. The records of the insured’s examinations and treatment will also be stored in the e-card, making it easier to follow the treatment progress.

For the medical institutions, the conversion to electronic cards for verification of insured persons will help reduce time and costs in the process while guaranteeing the accuracy of the insured’s information since the information is stored in the card, instead of relying on traditional paper documents. With the health records also available on the card, the medical institutions would be able to correctly prescribe suitable drugs to prevent drug resistance, as well as avoid administering multiple or repeated pre-clinical procedures within a short time that could pose health side effects to the patients.

For the insurance agencies, the electronic cards are expected to be able to effectively address the issues of insurance fraud as the biometric-based verification will make card-borrowing practices impossible. Additionally, registration, verification and payment for treatment will all take less time. In addition, one’s information on social insurance and unemployment insurance will also be incorporated in the electronic health insurance card, gradually phasing out the use of current paper social security books. Electronic cards will also help cut costs as new insurance cards will not have to be printed out every year or when the insured’s information changes./.