Ho Chi Minh City guides implementation of health insurance benefits for students in the academic year 2024-2025 in Vietnam

What are basic contents of the Joint Guidance on the implementation of health insurance benefits for students in Ho Chi Minh City in the 2024-2025 academic year?

On September 11, 2024, the Department of Education and Training of HCMC and the Social Insurance Agency of HCMC issued Joint Guidance 6687/HDLS/BHXH-GDDT in 2024 on the implementation of health insurance for students for the academic year 2024-2025.

The student health insurance (SHI) contribution is calculated as follows:

Statutory pay rate X 4.5% X 70% X number of months participating

The SHI contribution amounts are as follows:

Regarding the method and time for students to pay health insurance:

- Students register for SHI and pay at their educational institution at the beginning of the academic year or course through four payment methods: 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months (encouraged to participate in 12 months). If a student’s SHI card is within 10 days of expiration, the student should contact the educational institution to register for continued payment using the methods mentioned above.

- Educational institutions are responsible for urging and reminding students to pay SHI contributions according to the list they manage or the list provided by the social insurance agency. They must organize the collection of SHI contributions along with the participation list and submit them to the social insurance agency accordingly.

- The social insurance agency: promptly issues and transfers SHI cards (if any) to educational institutions to distribute to students as soon as they receive complete documentation and the transferred contribution amount.

Note:

- If a student’s SHI card expires within the remaining months of 2024 or they have not previously participated in SHI, they only need to pay SHI for the remaining months until December 31, 2024 (Fiscal Year). After this, SHI participation will follow the methods mentioned above for the entire year of 2025.

- For students from near-poor households, as per regulations, they must participate in SHI at their locality (State budget supports 70%). If not participating locally, they should participate in SHI at their school. If later issued a card based on a different category, a refund will be made as per regulations (refund of contributions from the effective date of the new SHI card).

- Students with SHI cards under different categories (relatives of Police; Military; Cryptographic Agency; Poor; Near-Poor, etc.) should continue under their educational institution if their SHI card expires and they do not participate under other categories, until the common expiration date of the institution.

To check the validity of the SHI card, students can use the VSSID software or visit the website: https://baohiemxahoi.gov.vn/tracuu/pages/tra-cuu-thoi-han-su-dung-the-bhyt.aspx to look up the SHI card validity.

Joint Guidance 6687/HDLS/BHXH-GDDT in 2024 download

Ho Chi Minh City guides implementation of health insurance benefits for students in the academic year 2024-2025 in Vietnam​ (Image from Internet)

What is the significance of the health insurance card number in Vietnam?

Based on Clause 1, Article 3 Decision 1666/QD-BHXH in 2020 regarding health insurance card numbers:

Information printed on the card template and required for management when issued to users includes:

1. Criteria for managing health insurance participants

1.1. Code: Print the 10-digit social insurance number of the health insurance participant.

1.2. Full name: Print the full name of the health insurance participant in uppercase letters.

1.3. Date of birth: Print the day, month, and year of birth of the health insurance participant.

1.4. Gender: Print male or female according to the registration documents for health insurance participation.

1.5. Health insurance benefit code: Print (1 character: from 1 to 5) indicating the benefit level of the health insurance participant.

...

Thus, the health insurance card number printed on the health insurance card consists of 10 characters. These 10 characters represent the social insurance number of the health insurance participant.

In addition to the health insurance card number, the card also prints 1 character indicating the health insurance benefit level, 2 characters representing the code of the living area of the participant, and 2 characters representing the health insurance participant category.

What are cases of replacement of a student's health insurance card in Vietnam?

Based on Article 19 Law on Health Insurance 2008 stipulating the replacement of health insurance cards:

Replacement of health insurance cards

1. Health insurance cards can be replaced in the following cases:

a) Torn, damaged, or unusable;

b) Changing the initial medical examination and treatment registration place;

c) Incorrect information recorded on the card.

2. Documents for card replacement include:

a) Application form requesting card replacement of the health insurance participant;

b) Health insurance card.

3. Within 7 working days from the date of receiving complete documents as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, the health insurance organization must replace the card for the health insurance participant. During the waiting period for card replacement, the cardholder still enjoys the benefits of health insurance participation.

4. Persons replacing torn, damaged, or unusable health insurance cards must pay a fee. The Minister of Finance stipulates the card replacement fee.

Thus, student health insurance cards can be replaced in the following cases:

- Torn, damaged, or unusable;

- Changing the initial medical examination and treatment registration place;

- Incorrect information recorded on the card.