NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue speaks at the panel discussion

NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue stated that the current Law on Social Insurance stipulates that employees have to pay social insurance contributions for 20 years to enjoy the retirement regime, but the conditions for lump-sum withdrawal of social insurance are easy. Resolution 28 has raised the issue of shortening the time of payment of social insurance to enjoy pension, in which the roadmap can be reduced to 15 years, even 10 years. This makes it easier for employees to choose to pursue pensions at the end of their working age, limiting the status of lump-sum social insurance benefits.

“The one-time withdrawal of social insurance is a legitimate demand due to the objective reality of employees. However, the employee is only entitled to his/her main contribution. Although social insurance has both contributions of employees and employers, employees participating in social insurance contributions only need to pay for 10 years or 15 years will enjoy the pension regime in old age. If they withdraw once, they will only enjoy their main contribution, which will limit the status of one-time social insurance benefits. The average annual number of people withdrawing from the social insurance system is about 5%, which has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the development of subjects participating in social insurance according to the NA Committee for Social Affairs. In 2020 alone, there are nearly 861,000 people enjoying one-time social insurance, an increase of more than 53,000 people compared to 2019, equivalent to 6.65%. This is one of the reasons why it is necessary to amend the Law on Social Insurance as soon as possible,” said NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.

Overview image of the group discussion session

At the discussion session, Hue also assessed that a number of short-term insurance funds currently have quite large balances such as the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Fund, which will change to VND 90,000 billion from 2020. Recently, the NA Standing Committee and the government have discussed and agreed to spend 1/3 of this balance to support workers to overcome difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic with 6 levels, at which the lowest is 1.800.000 and the highest is 3.300.000 for about 13 million employees; reduce the UI fund contributions for enterprises by about VND 8,000 billion. According to regulations, short-term funds must have balance and ensure safety. However, when there is a large balance, it is also necessary to review the payment level and scope of these funds to suit the payment ability of the State budget and the people. In addition, 2021 is heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, so it is also necessary to review and assess the impact and ability of short-term funds in the 2021-2022 period.

Regarding health insurance, at the discussion session, Hue raised and oriented numerous important issues such as: implementing the family doctor model; developing packages of basic medical services; payment and settlement of health insurance; studying and adjusting health insurance premiums in line with the people's ability to afford and the State budget; investing in, improving the quality of grassroots health care, preventive medicine, etc.