Vietnam to Raise Health Insurance for Students in 2015-2016 Academic Year

Vietnam’s Ministry of Health has said that it would raise medical insurance by 1.5 percentage points to 4.5% of the basic salary for students in the 2015-2016 school year, state media reported Friday. The rise follows the enforcement of the revised Law on Health Insurance that stipulates the state subsidy of 30% and the remaining from the participants. Each student needs to pay VND434,700 ($19.4) for the whole year. Vietnam targets to raise medical insurance coverage to students to 100% by 2016 from the current 80% but the goal may be unreachable because the medical insurance remains high to a number of students in remote areas. Pham Luong Son from the Ministry of Health said that the government should raise the support ratio to 50% for students in out-of-the-way places. (Thanh Nien – Young People Sept 4 p8, www.nhandan.com.vn)