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Using Electronic Cards to Expand Health Insurance in Viet Nam

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (1 October 2002) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide Viet Nam with a US$500,000 grant to introduce an electronic health insurance (E-HI) card to expand health insurance coverage in poor rural communities.

This is the first project to be funded by ADB's Japan Fund for Information and Communication Technology (JFICT), financed by the Government of Japan. The JFCT was set up last year to harness ICT's potential for development and bridge the digital dividend in Asia and the Pacific.

"This is a significant example of how information, communication and technology (ICT) can be used to improve the health of very poor people who had no such protection previously," says ADB senior project economist Indu Bhushan.

The project will support the Government's objective of achieving universal health insurance coverage by 2010. It will pilot the use of E-HI cards in one province. Project components include developing the E-HI processing system, providing E-HI cards and supporting hardware, and training.

The project will:

• Expand health services for rural and poor families through comprehensive patient and service reviews and by facilitating closer client-provider relationships
• Improve administrative efficiency by reducing the time for reimbursement and payment processing
• Reduce fraudulent claims by providing more timely and accurate client information for providers.

Health insurance, introduced in Viet Nam in 1992, covers only 17% of the population, partly because the poor cannot afford it. The Government's aim of expanding coverage is constrained by the capacity of the Viet Nam Health Insurance (VHL) to administer and monitor the system.

An E-HI card, an identity card containing computer readable data that is issued to a health insurance member, can facilitate administrative transactions. Several South East Asian countries are exploring the use of E-HI cards.

The total project cost is US$600,000. Aside from the ADB grant, the balance will be borne by the Government. The project will be implemented over two years beginning in January 2002. VHI will be the executing agency.

The JFCT was established with a contribution of US$10 million equivalent from the Government of Japan to support ICT-related activities on a grant basis.

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