Caption: VSS General Director Nguyen The Manh speaks at the meeting

Getting back the pace of growth

At the meeting, Director of Binh Duong Social Insurance Le Minh Ly reported on the results of social insurance and health insurance policies in the first four months of 2022. According to the report, after two years of the pandemic, the number of workers returning to work and those finding jobs has increased gradually, creating favourable conditions for the implementation of social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance policies.

In developing participants, the Binh Duong Social Insurance has diversified measures; reviewed, updated and classified potential groups that have not yet joined social insurance and health insurance; and coordinated with local authorities, organisations and schools to provide consultancy for citizens as well as organise meetings to mobilise residents to participate in social insurance and health insurance.

In the past four months, the province’s Social Insurance agency organised 310 meetings, drawing the participation of 15,974 people.

Particularly, amid the pandemic, it has coordinated with authorities of districts, communes and wards to strengthen information dissemination about social insurance and health insurance policies via social networks.

Caption: VSS General Director Nguyen The Manh talks to an employee about the disadvantages of one-time withdrawal of social insurance at the one-door services section of Binh Duong Social Insurance

By the end of April, the province had 972,566 people participating in mandatory social insurance, up by 44,729 in comparison with last December; 954,699 people participating in unemployed insurance, up by 44,571 compared to last December; and over 2 million people participating in health insurance, increasing the coverage rate to nearly 85 per cent of the province’s total population.  

The province’s Social Insurance agency dealt with social insurance policies for 426,745 people in the first four months of the year. The number of people undergoing medical examination and treatment covered by health insurance in the first three months of the year was 787,237.

Caption: Heads of VSS agencies speak at the meeting

At the meeting, representatives from the Social Insurance agencies of the province and districts also shared difficulties in implementing social insurance and health insurance policies.

Rapidly and sustainably increasing social insurance and health insurance coverage

At the meeting, representatives from the VSS agencies responded to some proposals and recommendations from Binh Duong Social Insurance.

Caption: Director of Binh Duong Social Insurance Le Minh Ly speaks at the meeting

Regarding the implementation of tasks in the future, the VSS asked the province Social Insurance to study and immediately implement Decision No 546/QĐ-TTg issued by the Prime Minister on targets of health insurance coverage for provinces and cities during the 2022-2025 period.

The province’s Social Insurance agency needs to report and consult the provincial People’s Committee about this issue in order to complete guidelines and directions and at the same time study to implement solutions recommended by the decision in order to increase the rate of health insurance coverage which is currently lower than the national average.

It is also necessary for the province’s Social Insurance agency to closely follow the newest guidelines of the VSS on the organisation of meetings for customers in order to develop the number of social insurance and health insurance participants.

It also needs to evaluate and report on the changes in the labour market inside and outside the province to put forward measures to increase social insurance and health insurance participants; continue to effectively implement policies to support employees and employers who face difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and increase inspection and coordinate with local police to handle businesses with large insurance premium debts.

It is instructed to promote communication on social insurance and health insurance policies in industrial zones and export processing zones.

Caption: Representatives from the district Social Insurance agency speak at the meeting

Concluding the meeting, VSS Director General Manh spoke highly of the achievements made by Binh Duong Social Insurance.

He said Binh Duong is a big province and its social insurance and health insurance premium collection ranks third in the country, greatly affecting the targets and tasks of the whole sector. Therefore, leaders of Binh Duong Social Insurance, public officers, cadres and labourers need to understand their position and role in order to make efforts to fulfill their tasks, he said.

Over the past two years, Bình Dương suffered severe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and has gradually recovered. However, the province needs to pay more attention to its characteristics of having migrants accounting for 54 per cent of its population. Around 80 per cent of labourers are migrants while the labour forces also usually change, requiring appropriate solutions to effectively implement policies.

Manh said in the future, Binh Duong Social Insurance should continue to consult provincial authorities and coordinate with relevant agencies and departments to increase the number of voluntary social insurance participants and household health insurance participants which are still low in comparison with the national average and fail to match the province’s potential.

It should also guide the implementation of many decisions and policies relating to social insurance and health insurance which have been issued recently.

Caption: A view of the meeting

Binh Duong Social Insurance was advised to coordinate with relevant agencies to evaluate the labour situation in the province to have measures to mobilise social insurance and health insurance participants and implement related policies, particularly solutions to increase the number of household health insurance participants to 200,000 by the end of 2022; strengthen inspection and strictly punish violators in the field of social insurance and health insurance; enhance communication tasks to raise public awareness of social insurance and health insurance policies; ensure benefits of participants; and continue administrative reform and digital transformation./.