With just three days to go before the new Health Insurance Law takes effect, health care workers and patients are worried because hospital officials have received no instructions on implementing it.

Ordinarily, training, familiarization and application of the new law would have taken place before it officially became effective.

“We examine and treat about 1,700- 1,800 insured outpatients and 400 inpatients everyday. They are very concerned about the new law,” Thanh said.

“But we still don’t know what to do with the new regulations.”

Nguyen Thi Hung, director of Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital, had a similar complaint, with his hospital treating about 1,000 insured outpatients a day.

The Gia Dinh People’s Hospital’s Do Hoang Giao said it would not be able to comply with the new law because even after receiving supplementary documents on its implementation, it would take time for the staff to get acquainted with the new regulations.

“We are very confused,” an official of the Thu Duc General Hospital told Thanh Nien.

Social Insurance Agency Director Cao Van Sang, meanwhile, said he knew of no instruction regarding the new law.

“Even if such documents are issued before July 1, we don’t have the time to apply them by the deadline,” he said.

Head of the Health Ministry’s health insurance department, Tong Thi Song Huong, said the delay was caused because authorities had still not reached consensus in writing the instructions.

Huong said the ministry had submitted a proposal to the government which would allow agencies to apply current regulations until December 31 for current insurance subscribers.

Patients getting their insurance after the implementation documents are issued will be treated under the new law, she said.

Huong said the temporary application of current health insurance regulations will not affect patients’ rights.

More uncertainty

In another issue, the new law states that patients will register their insurance cards with district-level health agencies instead of at the city and province level as current regulations stipulate.

Huong said the new regulation aims to improve management of the patients’ files and more easily classify cases.

“Critical and needy cases will be transferred to higher agencies while normal examinations and treatments will be carried out at local health clinics,” Huong said.

Many doctors and patients, however, have expressed concern about the regulations, saying the district-level clinics do not have efficient facilities and staff to handle the huge number of health insurance registrations.

Reported by Thanh Tung - Lien Chau