Supporting the establishment of the National Health Insurance scheme in Lao PDR and the extension of coverage The project will contribute to the Government’s goal of achieving universal coverage and the MDGs 4 and 5 targets through the extension of social health protection coverage and the progressive harmonization/merger of existing schemes. The project has three immediate objectives: Immediate objective 1: By the end of the project the policy and regulatory framework will have been further developed at the national level (support for the preparation/finalization and harmonization of all the decrees, laws, regulations, etc.) and costing of social health protection benefits will have been conducted. Output 1.1: The drafting and finalization of decrees, laws, regulations is supported and coherence across legal texts, strategies and guidelines is ensured Output 1.2: A costing of social health protection benefits is conducted. Immediate objective 2: By the end of the project a staircase approach, including the “harmonization” of benefits, operations and MIS & IT systems across existing schemes, support to new enrolments and the establishment of a fund to increase access to social health protection for the poor will have been demonstrated as feasible in one province. Output 2.1: The results of the costing study are used to harmonize levels of contributions across schemes at provincial level and applied to support extension of coverage. Output 2.2: Existing MIS – management information systems - are harmonized, a common module is developed at central level and a common database piloted in one province Output 2.3: Coverage is extended at Vang Vieng district and at provincial level through various awareness raising and enrolment campaigns Output 2.4: The feasibility study of the creation of a fund to subsidize the provision of the minimum benefit package (institutional deliveries and care for children under 5 years old) free of charge is conducted and the fund created. It is followed by the design & implementation of a common risk pool that will contribute to accelerate the merger of the schemes at provincial level. Output 2.5: The provider payment mechanisms are assessed at national level and common provider payment mechanisms are established at provincial level for the provision of the contributory benefit packages and the minimum benefit package Immediate objective 3: By the end of the project the experience outlined in objectives one and two will be documented and evaluated and a second phase project proposal will be prepared and submitted to a pool of donors to further support the establishment of the National Health Insurance Agency and the extension of coverage in an larger number of provinces. Output 3.1: An independent baseline-evaluation of the project is conducted Output 3.2: A second phase project proposal will be prepared and submitted to a pool of potential donors and the government of Lao PDR to further support the establishment of the National Health Insurance Agency and the extension of coverage in a larger number of provinces based on the experience and lessons learned of phase one Target Groups and Partners The project will be jointly conducted by the ILO and WHO. The stakeholders of the project are the following institutions: - Ministry of Health and Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, at the central level and in the province (and the districts) where the project will be implemented: provincial and district health and labour/social welfare offices, health care providers; - Existing social health protection schemes (SSO, SASS, CBHI, Equity funds) at central, provincial and districts levels; - Ministry of Finance; Ministry of Planning and Investment; - Employers and workers organizations; - Civil society and mass organizations; - Other UN agencies and development partners involved in the field of social health protection and health care: UNFPA, UNICEF, WFP, AfD, Lux Dev, Swiss Red Cross, GRET, ADB and the World Bank. The direct recipients are policy makers, administrators and technical staff involved in the desi