Creating a List and Enrolling in Health Insurance for Persons Infected with HIV

Circular No. 27 stipulates that people living with HIV participate in health insurance (HI) according to the current laws on HI. The registration, HI payment, and issuance of HI cards for this group are conducted as follows:

People living with HIV who first come for HIV/AIDS treatment at a medical facility authorized to treat HIV/AIDS, or who have been diagnosed as HIV positive by the HIV treatment facility:

- In cases where the patient does not yet have a HI card and is eligible for support with HI costs: The HIV/AIDS treatment facility will guide the patient through the procedures to request the issuance of a HI card and make a list of such individuals to send to the provincial/central city HIV/AIDS prevention and control unit (referred to as the provincial HIV/AIDS unit) within 5 working days before the end of the month to create a list for HI cost support. If the patient comes for examination or is diagnosed with HIV within less than 5 days of the end of the month, the listing will be deferred to the next month;- In cases where the patient has a HI card, is receiving treatment within the correct referral system, and is eligible for HI cost support: when the HI card expires, the HIV/AIDS treatment facility will make a list of such patients participating in HI and send it to the provincial HIV/AIDS unit 30 days before the HI card expires;- In cases where the patient has a HI card, is receiving treatment outside the correct referral system, and is eligible for HI cost support: when the HI card expires, the HIV/AIDS treatment facility will refer the patient to an appropriate HIV/AIDS treatment facility within the correct referral system to create a list for HI cost support according to regulations;- Note, before the 15th of each month, the provincial HIV/AIDS unit will summarize the list requesting HI cost support from all HIV/AIDS treatment facilities in the area (including health examination and treatment facilities of the Ministry of Health and other ministries and central authorities) and send it to the provincial Social Insurance Agency;- Within 10 working days from receipt of the list requesting HI card issuance from the provincial HIV/AIDS unit, the provincial Social Insurance Agency is responsible for reviewing to avoid issuing duplicate HI cards and providing information about the current HI participation status of each patient on the list;- Based on the information provided by the provincial Social Insurance Agency and the level of HI cost support for each group of subjects approved annually by the provincial People's Committee, the provincial HIV/AIDS unit is responsible for:- Creating a list of patients who receive HI cost support from the funds managed by the provincial HIV/AIDS unit (if any) and the list of patients requesting local support for HI costs to be submitted to the Department of Health, identifying cases that receive full support for HI costs and cases that receive partial support;- Creating a list of patients who do not receive full HI cost support (if any) and the specific amount the patient must pay to send to the HIV/AIDS treatment facility where the patient is registered for treatment.

After receiving the information from the provincial HIV/AIDS unit, the Department of Health is responsible for transferring the approved HI cost support funds to the Social Insurance Agency before the 10th of the first month of each quarter to issue HI cards.

Circular No. 27 stipulates the responsibilities of the HIV/AIDS treatment facility as follows:

- Notifying the patient and collecting the portion of the costs the patient must pay (if any) to transfer to the Social Insurance Agency for HI card issuance;- Reporting the list of individuals who have participated in HI and the HI cost support in writing to the provincial HIV/AIDS unit;- Receiving photos provided by the patient if the patient does not have identification documents or identity confirmation documents to transfer to the Social Insurance Agency to issue a HI card with a photo.

People living with HIV who do not fall under the above cases must pay for HI under the household form. The reduction in contribution levels is implemented according to the current HI laws as stipulated by Circular No. 27.

See details at Circular 27/2018/TT-BYT effective from January 01, 2019.

-Thao Uyen-

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