Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has issued new poverty thresholds applied for the 2014-2015 period. Accordingly, poor households are those with yearly income of VND16 million (US$755) or less per family member, and near-poor households are those with yearly per capita income from over VND16 million ($755) to VND21 million ($991). These new standards apply to both urban and rural households. The 2013 benchmark for poor households in the city is VND12 million. Based on the new thresholds, in early 2014, the city has about 130,000 poor households and 50,000 near-poor ones. Under the 2011-2015 national standards, poor households in rural areas are those with monthly income of VND400,000 ($19.2) or less per family member, and poor households in urban areas are those with monthly per capita income of VND500,000 or less. Also according to the national benchmark, as for near-poor households, the monthly per capita income for those in rural areas is from VND401,000 to VND500,000, and that for those in urban areas, is from VND501,000 to VND650,000.Support The city government will use the State budget to pay 100 percent and 70 percent of expenses on health insurance for poor and near-poor families respectively. In case a family has recently surpassed the threshold of VND21 million per member per year (for near-poor households) and has one or more members needing hemodialysis, the authorities will pay 50 percent of the expense on health insurance for each such member. The authorities will also pay 15 percent of the treatment cost for such members. In addition, the city’s budget will fully exempt students of poor households from paying tuitions and will also give them financial supports for their studies.