LookAtVietnam – People injured in traffic accidents will no longer have hospital fees paid for by medical insurance, unless they have the proper paperwork to prove

People injured in traffic accidents will no longer have hospital fees paid for by medical insurance.

Traffic police, who witnessed and collected information about the accident, will confirm whether victims in the accident violated traffic regulations or not.

Pay first

“If victims in accidents have no confirmation, they must pay the hospital fees themselves and be reimbursed by medical insurance later,” said Le Van Kham, deputy director of the Health Insurance Department under MoH.

Medical insurance previously covered hospital fees for all victims in traffic accidents, except for victims with a blood alcohol concentration above the regulated levels.

However, some doctors and health experts are concerned how it will be possible or humane to implement the new circular.

“When an accident victim is hospitalised, we can ask whether they had drunk or wore a helmet or not, but we cannot ask if they violated traffic rules. It will be difficult for us to define which patients’ hospital fees will be paid by medical insurance,” said director of the Planning Department under the National Eye Hospital Hoang Minh Anh.

It would take a lot of time to classify which patients have to pay all their fees because of their traffic regulation violations, and which patients are exempt from the fees, said director of the Ha Noi Department of Health Le Anh Tuan.

“At present, hospitals still lack enough doctors and nurses to treat patients; how can they assign more doctors and nurses to spend time classifying patients?” Tuan said.

Kham said that from now until October 1, ideas will be collected from People’s Committees in provinces to perfect the circular before being put into effect.

“The Ministry of Health will also set up teams of officers to assist hospitals, especially overcrowded ones, in implementing the circular to avoid troubles for the patients,” he said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News