According to the report from Ha Tinh Social Security Office, as of the end of May 2023, the total collection from social, health, and unemployment insurance in the area reached approximately 1,085 billion VND, achieving a rate of 32.49% of the annual plan. The total debt for social, health, and unemployment insurance amounted to 108.3 billion VND, accounting for 3.24% of the total. Currently, there are 92,715 mandatory social insurance participants in Ha Tinh Province, reaching 95.2% of the prescribed plan, and 52,239 voluntary social insurance participants, reaching 89.99% of the plan. The number of individuals participating in health insurance is 1,158,094, achieving 98.72% of the prescribed plan with a coverage rate of 94.43% of the population.

Overall working session

Explaining the reasons behind the challenges in meeting the mandatory social insurance targets, Mr. Bùi Hồng Nhật, Head of the Contribution collection, SI Book, HI Card division of Hà Tĩnh Social Security office, mentioned that the development of businesses in the province has mainly focused on small and very small enterprises with low labor force utilization. Currently, there are over 8,300 active businesses in the province, with more than 95% of them classified as small and micro-sized enterprises, contributing 17% to the registered capital. In terms of industry structure, industrial and construction businesses account for 37% without significant increases in employment in this area. In recent years, the increase in mandatory social insurance participants in Ha Tinh Province primarily come from foreign-invested garment factories, while the remaining increase comes from tax data reviews and job exchange platforms. However, most of the increase comes from labor migration between different units, rather than a substantial increase in the number of workers as expected. Additionally, there is currently no software or system in place to connect business information across different sectors for effective management of businesses and their employees, limiting the number of inactive businesses established in the erea.

Sharing about the solutions to enhance the effectiveness of communication efforts in increasing the coverage rates of social and health insurance by Ha Tinh Social Security Office, Ms. Trương Thị Tuyết, Head of Information and Communication Division of Hà Tĩnh Social Security Office, mentioned that in 2023, they have signed programs and regulations for cooperation with 13 units, including the Provincial People's Committee, the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Department of Health, the Department of Education and Training, the Provincial Women's Union, the Provincial Farmers' Association, the Provincial Labor Union, the Provincial Police, the Provincial Economic Zone Management Board, the Provincial Employment Services Center, Ha Tinh Newspaper, and the Provincial Radio and Television Station. The collaboration focuses on disseminating and promoting policies and laws related to social insurance and health insurance, as well as mobilizing the participation of various social groups, units, and organizations in health and social insurance according to the regulations.

In the first 5 months of 2023, the provincial Social Security Office has organized 44 conferences to promote and develop social and health insurance participants. They have also conducted hundreds of small-group propaganda campaigns and thousands of broadcasts through the grassroots radio system. The effectiveness of these propaganda forms has been proven in previous years and are being maintained by Ha Tinh province with a focus on innovative content, formats, and methods of communication that are central, diverse, easy to understand, and accessible. The goal is to help trade unions, workers, and the people clearly understand the role and significance of social insurance and health insurance policies within the social security system, as well as the rights and obligations of individuals in social and health insurance participation. Furthermore, directly conferences are organized to disseminate voluntary social insurance and household health insurance policies at the communes and wards levels, with an emphasis on developing voluntary participation in social insurance and household health insurance at these propaganda conferences.

According to Mr. Tran Quoc Tuy, Deputy Director of Contribution Collection - SI Book, HI Card Department (VSS), one of the successes of Ha Tinh Social Security Office is the development of voluntary social insurance participants, which ranks among the highest in the country. However, the mandatory social insurance participation rate is still relatively low compared to the national average. Therefore, Ha Tinh Social Insurance Office needs to develop specific collection plans, leverage existing potentials, and actively advise for strong involvement of local authorities. High focus is placed on overcoming difficulties effectively.

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Intense focus on overcoming difficulties.

One of the current challenges faced by the Ha Tinh Social Security Office is the efficient management of health insurance expenditures. In 2022, the total health insurance expenditures throughout the province are expected to exceed the budget allocated by the Prime Minister by VND 172 billion Vietnamese dong. During the first 5 months of 2023, Ha Tinh recorded 775,743 health insurance claims at various healthcare facilities within the province, with a proposed payment amount of VND 569.6 billion, representing an increase of 133,105 claims (20.71%) and VND 63.9 billion (12.64%) compared to the same period last year...

According to Ha Tinh Social Security Office, one of the distinguishing features is its high proportion of elderly population within the demographic structure. Around 80% of the individuals enrolled in health insurance contribute at a rate of 4.5% based on their basic salary. However, they exhibit a high frequency of utilizing the Health Insurance Fund for medical treatment, leading to significant overspending on health insurance annually. Additionally, there is a trend among certain healthcare facilities to actively attract individuals with health insurance cards through various means, including collaboration and influence through social organizations and associations, with the aim of advising and gathering a large number of insured individuals within the same locality for medical treatment. This is one of the main factors contributing to the substantial increase in health insurance expenditure, which currently lacks effective measures for resolution. Moreover, the costs of traditional medicine and functional recovery services have significantly risen in recent years due to the high prices of technical services provided by these two specialties. The treatment methods are well-suited for the elderly, who have more time to seek medical treatment, thereby leading to increased efforts by healthcare facilities to attract this demographic.

Currently, the Ha Tinh Social Security Office is still strengthening the verification of health insurance in accordance with the prescribed procedures and guidelines from Vietnam Social Security. They are also following the specialized procedures issued by the Ministry of Health and other relevant legal regulations for the implementation of HI verification. The office is focusing on data analysis and specialized verification. Additionally, the Social Security Agency actively organizes inspections at healthcare facilities to ensure the proper management and utilization of the Health Insurance Fund within these facilities.

Sharing the solutions of the Ha Tinh Social Security Office in the coming period, Mr. Nguyen Van Dong, the Director of Ha Tinh Social Security Office, stated that besides efforts to address the weaknesses in the implementation of tasks in the past, the Ha Tinh Social Security Office has also requested the support of the VSS to provide guidance on resolving specific difficulties, seeking opinions from the central level. At the same time, the Ha Tinh Social Security Office is actively implementing the assigned tasks under Project 06/CP related to the Social Insurance sector. Up to now, the number of social, health, and unemployment insurance paticipants, which have been synchronized and verified with the national population database throughout the province, has reached a rate of over 97%, temporarily ranking first among 63 provincial and city social insurance offices nationwide. The number of people who are not yet synchronized and verified with the current population database accounts for only over 2%. The Ha Tinh Social Security Office is striving to achieve 100% synchronization of participants with the national population database and is also preparing the necessary conditions to deploy online public services for 02 interconnected public service groups: Birth registration-permanent residence registration-providing health insurance cards for children under 6 years old; Death registration-removal of permanent residence registration-funeral allowance registration fees...

After listening to the reports, proposals, recommendations, and responses from the operational units under the VSS, Deputy Director General Chu Manh Sinh shared his views on the difficulties, challenges, as well as highly appreciated the unity and efforts of the Ha Tinh Social Security Office in implementing the assigned targets and tasks. "The Ha Tinh Social Security Office needs to continue strengthening specific measures, striving to complete and exceed the targets and tasks assigned by the Vietnam Social Security, and continue to contribute to ensuring social security in the area and guaranteeing the rights and benefits of employees, participants, and beneficiaries of social and health insurance policies," emphasized Deputy Director General Chu Manh Sinh.

Emphasizing that the tasks of the entire sector in 2023 will still face many difficulties, Deputy Director General Chu Manh Sinh of the VSS proposed that the Ha Tinh Social Security Office should concentrate its efforts to maximize the existing advantages. Ha Tinh currently has a relatively high rate of health insurance participation compared to the average, but there has been no significant improvement compared to the previous year... Therefore, specific solutions are needed in terms of communication, inspection, revenue planning, promoting digital transformation tasks, and applying information technology in task implementation... to complete each assigned target and task.