“We must return to the system of patients sharing the cost as it deters people from overusing hospital services,” Tong Thi Song Huong insisted.

Yet a problem was raised by a senior administrator who said that patients would have to wait longer at the payment counter while the staff tried to figure out whether they had to pay 20 percent, five percent, or nothing.

Dang Van Chinh, director of Thanh Nhan Hospital in Hanoi, said the task would be complicated if done manually.

Chinh said his hospital had suggested the Health Insurance Department issue insurance cards with codes corresponding to the type of beneficiary.

By showing clearly what percentage a patient had to pay, such a card would reduce the waiting time, he said.

Under the new law, health insurance will not be available to anyone at fault in a traffic accident.

As several people at the conference observed, a hospital can hardly tell at a glance whether an accident victim has broken the law.

In response, Huong cited a new health ministry regulation that a person injured in a traffic accident would have to pay the whole fee up front and would only be refunded when the “authorized agencies” confirmed that the patient had not been at fault.

Reported by Lien Chau