{"id":987501966,"date":"2023-02-03T08:19:17","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T07:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/p4h.world\/country\/lao-peoples-democratic-republic\/"},"modified":"2025-04-07T15:54:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T14:54:05","slug":"lao-peoples-democratic-republic","status":"publish","type":"country","link":"https:\/\/p4h.world\/en\/countries\/lao-peoples-democratic-republic\/","title":{"rendered":"Lao People’s Democratic Republic"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”!! PLEASE DO NOT EDIT !!!” _builder_version=”4.19.5″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”1″ admin_label=”!!! PLEASE DO NOT EDIT !!!” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.19.5″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”TEXT – BLOCK 1″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||1em||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a lower-middle-income country in Asia. In 2019, current health expenditure (CHE) was 2.6% of GDP [1]<\/a><\/sup> while domestic general government health expenditure and out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure were 37% and 42% of CHE, respectively. Since 2016, significant health reforms have been advancing UHC.\u00a0<\/span>[\/et_pb_text][ba_gradient_heading title=”Extension of social health protection using a tax-based financing model” html_tag=”h3″ primary_color=”#455A64″ secondary_color=”#455A64″ admin_label=”HEADING (50-60 characters)” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” title_font=”||||||||” title_font_size=”26px” title_line_height=”1em” custom_padding=”15px||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/ba_gradient_heading][et_pb_text admin_label=”TEXT – BLOCK 2 ” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||1em||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Health insurance coverage was gradually expanded in the country through multiple health protection schemes, including the State Authority for Social Security (SASS) for civil servants (1995), the Social Security Organization for private employees (2001), community-based health insurance (CBHI) for self-employed and informal workers (2002), the Health Equity Fund for people living in poverty and vulnerable populations (2004), and the Free Maternal Neonatal and Child Health services policy (2010)[2]<\/a><\/sup>. Nevertheless, until 2015\u00a0 less than 30% of the population was insured[1]<\/a><\/sup>. This resulted from low enforcement of mandatory schemes and limited enrollment in a voluntary scheme[3]<\/a><\/sup>. Insurance coverage significantly increased with the establishment and enforcement of national health insurance (NHI). In 2016, NHI began covering uninsured individuals working in the informal sector, and insurance coverage increased from 45% in 2016 to 94% in 2021[3]<\/a><\/sup>. Now, NHI\u2019s main objective is to enhance social health protection and access to health care of the population and to attain UHC-related targets set for 2025[6]<\/a><\/sup>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”TEXT – BLOCK 3″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||1em||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]The government heavily subsidizes NHI, and users make a small copayment at the point of service. Pregnant women, children, and people living in poverty are exempted from the copayment. While OOP payments remain high, they did drop from 46% in 2016 to 42% of CHEin 2019[4]<\/a><\/sup>. \u00a0 <\/span>[\/et_pb_text][ba_gradient_heading title=”Integration of social health protection schemes enhances risk pooling ” html_tag=”h3″ primary_color=”#455A64″ secondary_color=”#455A64″ admin_label=” HEADING (50-60 characters)” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” title_font=”||||||||” title_font_size=”26px” title_line_height=”1em” custom_padding=”15px||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/ba_gradient_heading][et_pb_text admin_label=”TEXT – BLOCK 4 ” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||1em||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Decree 470\/PM on NHI, signed in 2012, aimed to increase risk pooling and harmonize administration under the social health protection scheme. In 2016, three schemes \u2013 iCBHI, FMNCH, and HEF \u2013 were merged under NHI. In 2019, the Ministry of Health of Lao People\u2019s Democratic Republic merged SASS and SSO under NHI[5]<\/a><\/sup>. Thus, NHI now covers both formal and informal employment as well as people living in poverty and vulnerable populations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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References<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/span> https:\/\/www.ilo.org\/asia\/media-centre\/articles\/WCMS_735797\/lang–en\/index.htm<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/span> https:\/\/www.who.int\/laos\/news\/detail\/06-10-2022-updated-national-health-insurance-strategy-aims-to-better-protect-people–ensure-financial-sustainability<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/span> Lao People\u2019s Democratic Republic Health System Review<\/a>.\u00a0
<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/span> https:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/indicator\/SH.XPD.OOPC.CH.ZS?locations=LA<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

[5]<\/span> https:\/\/www.social-protection.org\/gimi\/RessourcePDF.action;jsessionid=70g8jlPl28lsPx7SqNOUQ5Ke7JabxYxPqdmj0vu0p-iQ40e-CD5t!539423187?id=55648<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a lower-middle-income country in Asia. In 2019, current health expenditure (CHE) was 2.6% of GDP [1] while domestic general government health expenditure and out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure were 37% and 42% of CHE, respectively. Since 2016, significant health reforms have been advancing UHC.\u00a0[ba_gradient_heading title=”Extension of social health protection using a tax-based…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":987718260,"template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/p4h.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country\/987501966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/p4h.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/p4h.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/country"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p4h.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/p4h.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country\/987501966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":987766334,"href":"https:\/\/p4h.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country\/987501966\/revisions\/987766334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p4h.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/987718260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/p4h.world\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=987501966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}