Hanoi (VNA) - Each student who joins the medicalinsurance programme would be provided with a social insurance code which couldbe used for all their lives, according to a new regulation for medicalinsurance, social insurance and unemployment insurance.

The insurance code would be used for recording insurance historyand processing insurance payment claims, said Tran Dinh Lieu, deputy generaldirector of Vietnam Social Security (VSS).

Under the new regulation, the monthly fee for medical insurancefor students is 4.5 percent of the State basic salary level, equal to 58,500VND (2.5 USD), increasing from 3 percent last year.

However, each student would pay 70 percent of the fee; the restwould be paid by the State.

The fee could be paid in three-, six-, nine- or twelve-monthterms.

The cardholders, excluding poor students, receive benefits of upto 80 percent of their medical treatment fees.

In this school year, many localities have introduced policies toencourage students to join the insurance programme.

Students of poor families may be offered assistance up to 70 percentof the insurance fees.

The Central Highlands province of Lam Dong paid 70 percent ofinsurance fees for ethnic minority students.

Student medical insurance is compulsory.

According to the statistics of VSS, in this school year, thepercentage of students joining medical insurance has reached 92.5 percent,equivalent to 15.9 million students nationwide, as compared to 90.5 percent and15.6 million students last school year.

However, to reach the goal of 100 percent of students joining themedical insurance, schools nationwide were asked to disseminate informationabout the benefits of medical insurance among students and parents, said Lieu.

In fact, many people, including students and parents, were notaware of the benefits of the medical insurance.

In many education entities, the fee of medical insurance was notseparated from other fees, creating misunderstanding among students andparents.-VNA