On September 9, 2024, the Ministry of Health issued a draft Circular detailing the implementation of certain provisions of the amended Law on Health Insurance.
*New Proposals on Eligible Participants in Health Insurance
Accordingly, the Draft Amendment to the 2008 Law on Health Insurance provides new categories of individuals eligible for participation in health insurance as follows:
(1) Group covered by contributions from employees and employers, including:
(i) Employees working under indefinite-term labor contracts or fixed-term contracts of one month or more, including cases where the employee and employer agree on a different name for the contract, provided it reflects paid employment, wages, and management, supervision, and control by the employer, except for probationary contracts as regulated by labor law; Managers of enterprises, controllers, representatives of state capital, representatives of enterprise capital as regulated by law, members of the board of directors, general directors, directors, members of the supervisory board or controllers, and other elected management positions in cooperatives and cooperative unions as regulated by the Law on Cooperatives who receive wages; Officials, civil servants, and public employees;
(ii) Non-professional activists at communes, wards, towns, villages, and residential groups as regulated by law;
(iii) Foreign employees working in Vietnam who are subject to compulsory social insurance participation when working under a fixed-term labor contract of at least 12 months with an employer in Vietnam, except for cases of intra-company transfer as regulated by law on foreign workers in Vietnam, and who, at the time of signing the labor contract, have reached retirement age under Clause 2, Article 169 of the 2019 Labor Code; or when international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a party provide otherwise;
(iv) Employees described in (i) of (1) working part-time, with monthly wages equal to or higher than the lowest wage used as the basis for compulsory social insurance contributions, are also subject to compulsory social insurance participation.
(2) Group covered by contributions from the Social Insurance Organization, including:
(i) Persons receiving pensions who are not covered by the provision in (v) of (2), and persons receiving monthly labor incapacity allowances;
(ii) Persons receiving monthly social insurance allowances due to occupational accidents, occupational diseases, or illnesses requiring long-term treatment;
(iii) Retired officials, civil servants, and public employees from communes, wards, and towns who receive monthly social insurance allowances;
(iv) Persons receiving unemployment benefits;
(v) Officers of the People’s Public Security Forces who are receiving pensions.
(3) Group covered by contributions from the state budget, including:
(i) Active-duty officers, professional soldiers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers in the People's Army; non-commissioned officers and officers, technical non-commissioned officers, and specialists on active duty in the People’s Public Security Forces; Vietnamese and foreign students at the People’s Public Security academies; non-commissioned officers and soldiers serving for a fixed term in the People's Public Security Forces; and persons working in cryptographic agencies receiving wages equivalent to soldiers; cryptographic students entitled to the same policies and benefits as students in military and police schools; (ii) Retired officials, civil servants, and public employees from communes, wards, and towns who receive monthly allowances from the state budget; (iii) Persons who no longer receive labor incapacity benefits but still receive monthly allowances from the state budget; (iv) Persons with meritorious services to the revolution, veterans, youth volunteers, and former civilian volunteers who participated in the resistance and national defense; (v) Current members of the National Assembly and People’s Councils at all levels; (vi) Children under six years of age; (vii) Persons receiving monthly social protection allowances; persons aged 80 and above receiving monthly survivor benefits; (viii) Persons from poor households; ethnic minorities living in areas with difficult socio-economic conditions; persons living in areas with extremely difficult socio-economic conditions; persons residing in island communes and districts; (ix) Relatives of persons with meritorious services to the revolution, including biological parents, spouses, biological children, adopted children of martyrs, and those who nurtured martyrs; (x) Relatives of persons with meritorious services to the revolution, except those covered in (ix); (xi) Relatives of persons described in (i); (xii) Persons who have donated organs in accordance with the law; (xiii) Foreign students studying in Vietnam who receive scholarships funded by the Vietnamese state budget; (xiv) Residents of revolutionary safety zones from the wars against the French and Americans who are currently residing in these zones and have had their information updated in the national population database and residence database.
(4) Group receiving state budget support for contributions, including:
(i) Members of near-poor households; (ii) Students;
(iii) Persons participating in security and order protection forces at the grassroots level;
(iv) Village and commune health workers, except those covered under (1), (2), or (3).
(5) Group self-paying for health insurance, including:
(i) Members of households participating in health insurance under the household health insurance scheme, except those covered under (1), (2), (3), or (4);
(ii) Persons residing, working, or receiving care in charitable or religious organizations, except those covered under (1), (2), (3), (4), or (i) of (5);
(iii) Vietnamese citizens without personal identification documents, and foreigners residing in Vietnam, except those covered under (1), (2), (3), (4), or (i) of (5);
(iv) Employees on unpaid leave or those who have suspended labor contracts, who voluntarily participate in health insurance, except those covered under (i) of (5);
(v) Business household owners required to register their businesses, except those covered under (i) of (5).
