Participants at the meeting included leaders of social insurance agencies in seven provinces and cities, which are Hanoi, Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An.

Difficulties and obstacles

Reporting on the collection of social insurance and health insurance premiums and development of social insurance and health participants, Director of Hanoi Social Security Nguyen Duc Hoa said by the end of July 2022, the health insurance coverage rate of the city reached 91.4 per cent of its total population. The total number of health insurance participants increased by 7,518,169, equivalent to 98 per cent of the plan. The number of compulsory and voluntary social insurance participants stood at 1,901,860 and 64,301, equivalent to 97.5 per cent and 87.9 per cent of the plan, respectively.

The city has collected more than VND28.7 trillion worth of insurance premiums, equivalent to 53.86 per cent of the plan. Over 5.4 million people have had health checkups covered by health insurance.

Regarding administrative reform and application of information and technology, more than 99.9 per cent of units and enterprises participating in social insurance have carried out online transactions. The Hanoi Social Security has continued to conduct level-4 online public services in the fields of social insurance and health insurance and processed dossiers via the national public service portal. In the first seven months of the year, Hanoi Social Security received and processed more than 15.7 million dossiers, up 29.06 per cent in comparison with 2021.

VSS Director General Nguyen The Manh speaks at the event

Hoa said the development of participants gained positive results but remained slow and there are difficulties in fulfilling the target set by the municipal authorities. Specifically, in order to complete the health insurance coverage rate of 92.5 per cent, it needs to develop at least 153,238 participants in the last months of the year. An additional 49,632 compulsory social insurance participants, 9,436 unemployment insurance participants, and 44,614 voluntary social insurance participants are also needed.

Director of Hanoi Social Insurance Nguyen Duc Hoa speaks at the event

The Director of Thanh Hoa Province Social Security Nguyen Van Tam said as of July 2022, the province has 3,236,485 people participating in social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance. It dealt with dossiers for 285,522 people to get benefits from social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance policies; and paid health check-up and treatment fees for 2,426,497 health insurance participants.

However, Tam said, difficulties remained in implementing social insurance and health insurance in the province, particularly in mobilising participants, punishing violators in the fields of social insurance and health insurance and bidding on medical materials.

Director of Nghe An Province Social Security Hoang Van Minh said by the end of July, the province had 2,983,689 people participating in social insurance and health insurance, including 260,790 compulsory social insurance participants, fulfilling 94.17 percent of the assigned target. The number of voluntary social insurance was 108,052, equivalent to 80.10 per cent of the assigned plan. The number of health insurance participants is 2,875,637, equivalent to 94.43 per cent of the target.

Director of Thanh Hoa Province Social Insurance Nguyen Van Tam speaks at the meeting

Speaking at the meeting, the Director of Bac Giang Province Social Security said the social insurance and health insurance participation of workers in the province is unstable. Many people still get one-time social insurance payments instead of continuing to get a pension when they retire. Besides, there are still no effective measures to deal with social insurance and health insurance premium debts. The number of voluntary social insurance participants increased but still failed to meet the target.

In order to fulfill assigned tasks, social insurance agencies of localities have taken many measures to develop the number of social insurance and health insurance participants. Many problems relating to health check-up and treatment covered by health insurance have been tackled, including issues relating to costs and the shortage of medicine and medical materials.

Efforts to fulfill tasks successfully

Concerning difficulties and challenges facing localities, heads of the VSS departments suggested social insurance agencies of provinces and cities focus on some key tasks such as continuing to take comprehensive measures to develop participants, increase the collection of social insurance and health insurance premiums and coordinate with relevant agencies to consult localities in building plans to implement the Prime Minister’s Decision No 546/QĐ-TTg about health insurance coverage targets during the 2022-2025 period.

 Duong Van Hao, Director of the VSS Department of Contribution Collection - Insurance Book and Card speaks at the event

Duong Van Hao, Director of the VSS Department of Contribution Collection - Insurance Book and Card, said in the first six months of 2022, social insurance agencies of many localities developed the participants of social insurance and health insurance participants effectively. However, in July and August, the development of participants in some localities started to show signs of slowing down, affecting the rate of the whole country.

Hao proposed social insurance agencies of localities take comprehensive measures to improve the efficiency of the collection of social insurance and health insurance contribution and development of participants.

He also asked them to increase supervision and inspection to discover businesses that do not pay social insurance premiums for their employees.

Regarding health insurance, Le Van Phuc, head of the VSS Department of Health Insurance Policy Implementation, said social insurance agencies of localities should use the health insurance fund economically and effectively and take measures to ensure people’s benefits when having health check-ups and treatment covered by health insurance.

Head of the VSS Department of Health Insurance Policy Implementation Le Van Phuc speaks at the meeting.

Concluding the meeting, VSS Director General Nguyen The Manh spoke highly of the efforts of social insurance agencies of localities to overcome difficulties.

He asked them to have concrete solutions to draw new labour forces to participate in social insurance and health insurance in order to fulfill the set target for 2022 in the number of compulsory social insurance participants.

 A view of the meeting

He required social insurance agencies of localities to continue coordinating closely with relevant departments and agencies to tackle difficulties and with local authorities in implementing social insurance and health insurance policies.

He suggested implementing unexpected inspections and strictly punishing those businesses found to evade social insurance payments for their workers.

The social insurance agencies should also be more proactive in information dissemination tasks to mobilise more people to participate in social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance./.