Since January 1, Vietnam’s health insurance has covered 100% of treatment costs at any hospital for patients with rare or severe diseases, complex surgeries, or advanced procedures, without requiring referral documents, local media reported.
This is a key provision of the amended Health Insurance Law recently passed by the National Assembly. The change aims to expedite patient care, eliminate lengthy referral processes, and reduce treatment time and costs.
The Ministry of Health announced a new list of 62 rare and severe diseases eligible for full coverage without referrals, up by 20 from the previous list.
On the first day of the year, over 20,000 cancer patients with health insurance received treatment at National Cancer Hospital (K Hospital) without needing referral papers.
Vietnam currently records around 100 rare diseases affecting six million people, 58% of whom are children. About 30% of these children die before the age of five. (Dan Tri, Health Ministry, Bao Chinh Phu, yte.nghean.gov.vn)