Gov’t Support Policies Remain Inaccessible to Poor Vietnamese

Many poor Vietnamese people have yet to get access to support policies from the government, according to a seminar on multi-dimensional poverty reduction in Ho Chi Minh City on Sept 12. An assessment result of the policies for HCM City in 2009-2013 showed that only 59% of poor households have received health insurance cards, 10% of card holders have got fully support in card premiums and 12% with 50% of the premiums. Such statistics reveal a picture unfit with the current Vietnamese law as poor households with an income of below VND8 million/person/year are supposed to receive 100% of the health insurance premiums. In addition, up to 20.9% of needy families have had to borrow loans with sky-high interest rates from individuals, aiming to serve their basic demands, then business production and health care. The average lending rates from these unofficial channels are often six times as high as those from legal sources. So far, up to 2.1 million households in Vietnam are deemed poor and 1.4 million near-poor, accounting for 9.46% and 6.75% of the national population, according to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA). (Tuoi Tre – Youth Sept 12)