Are employees whose health insurance covered by the state to pay health insurance premiums in Vietnam?

Are employees whose health insurance covered by the state to pay health insurance premiums in Vietnam? (Internet image)

Regarding this matter, LawNet would like to answer as follows: 

According to the provisions of Article 12 of the Health Insurance Law 2008 (amended and supplemented in 2014), the subjects required to pay health insurance are stipulated as follows:

1. Group whose health insurance is paid by the employee and the employer, includes:

a) Employees working under indefinite-term labor contracts, fixed-term labor contracts of three months or more; employees who are enterprise managers receiving salaries; officials and public employees (hereinafter collectively referred to as employees);

....

3. Group whose health insurance is paid by the state budget, includes:

....

g) Persons entitled to monthly social protection allowances;

...

According to the information provided by you, you are a person with disabilities belonging to the group specified in point g, clause 3, Article 12 of the Health Insurance Law 2008 (amended and supplemented in 2014) whose health insurance is paid by the state budget. However, when you work, you simultaneously belong to the group participating in health insurance under clause 1 as an employee, and health insurance is mandatory for employees. Therefore, in this case, based on clause 2, Article 13 of the Health Insurance Law 2008 (amended and supplemented in 2014), if a person simultaneously belongs to multiple different groups participating in health insurance, they will pay health insurance according to the first group identified according to the order of groups stipulated in Article 12 of the Health Insurance Law 2008 (amended and supplemented in 2014). This means you are not exempt but must pay health insurance as an employee.

Additionally, according to clause 2, Article 22 of the Health Insurance Law 2008 (amended and supplemented in 2014), it is stipulated that:

If a person belongs to multiple groups participating in health insurance, they shall enjoy health insurance benefits according to the group with the highest benefits.

Since you belong to two groups participating in health insurance, you will enjoy the benefits according to the group with higher benefits. For persons with disabilities, the health insurance fund pays 100% of the costs for medical examination and treatment, while for employees, it covers 80% of these costs. Therefore, when seeking medical examination and treatment, you will enjoy the benefits of health insurance provided by the state budget, as it has a higher benefit level.

Thus, individuals whose health insurance is paid by the state and who participate in labor at enterprises must still pay health insurance at their workplace and will enjoy health insurance benefits according to the group with the higher benefit level.

Le Hau

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