The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has finalized a proposal to amend and supplement Resolution No. 56/2025/NQ-HDND of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, seeking to expand the group eligible for full local government funding of health insurance premiums.
Under the proposal, the eligibility age would be lowered from residents aged 65 to under 75 to those aged 60 to under 75, with the municipal budget covering 100 percent of health insurance premiums.
On the morning of July 17, the Ho Chi Minh City Social Security Agency announced that, after more than five months of implementing Resolution No. 56/2025/NQ-HDND, the policy providing 100 percent of health insurance support for residents aged 65 to under 75 has delivered tangible results. As of the end of May 2026, the city had issued health insurance cards to 276,208 residents in this age group.
During the first five months of the year alone, beneficiaries under the policy made 1.47 million medical visits, with the health insurance fund covering more than VND1.083 trillion (US$41.2 million) in healthcare costs.
Building on these positive outcomes, the proposed expansion of support to residents aged 60 to under 65 aims to strengthen policies on elderly care from the early stages of aging.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Social Security Agency, the proposal is in line with national policies on adapting to population aging, improving care for older persons, and promoting their role in society. It also supports the goal of achieving universal health insurance coverage and ensuring that 100 percent of older individuals hold health insurance cards during the 2025–2030 period.
If approved, the policy will fully subsidize health insurance premiums for approximately 195,918 permanent residents aged 60 to under 65 who currently do not have health insurance coverage.
A survey conducted by the Ho Chi Minh City Social Security Agency involving 2,630 residents aged 60 to under 65 found that the majority had retired from work, no longer had a stable source of income, and relied primarily on personal savings or financial support from their families. Of those surveyed, 1,594 respondents, or 60.6 percent, said that paying health insurance premiums on their own was difficult or very difficult.
The findings indicate that although residents aged 60 to under 65 are not yet eligible for pensions or monthly social assistance benefits, many have already developed greater healthcare needs while facing limited financial capacity to pay for health insurance coverage.
The Ho Chi Minh City Social Security Agency stated that expanding the policy would help fulfill the target of ensuring that 100 percent of older persons hold health insurance cards, as set out in the Resolution of the first Party Congress of Ho Chi Minh City for the 2025-2030 tenure. The proposal is also expected to raise the city's health insurance coverage rate to over 95 percent in 2026, paving the way toward universal health insurance coverage by 2030.
The additional funding required to implement the policy is estimated at approximately VND267.6 billion (US$10.2 million) per year. According to the Ho Chi Minh City Social Security Agency, this represents a modest expenditure relative to the city's budget while delivering significant long-term social benefits by improving residents' quality of life, reducing the financial burden of healthcare costs, and lowering the risk of people falling back into poverty due to illness.
