1. Increased pension and social insurance allowances for old-age commune officials who have retired:

Circular 09/2019/TT-BNV issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, which took effect from August 1, 2019, details the guidelines to implement the increase in monthly allowance starting from July 1 to commune, ward and township officials who have retired from their posts.

Accordingly, their pension, social insurance benefits and monthly allowance will see an increase of 7.19% over the amount they were enjoying previously (i.e. their allowances in July, 2019 will amount to their June allowances multiplied by 1.0719).

Specifically, the monthly allowance for officials who are former secretaries of the commune Party Committee and chairman of commune People’s Committee will reach more than VNĐ2.1 million a month.

For officials who served as vice secretaries of communes’ party committees, vice chairmen of commune people’s committees, standing party committees, members of communes’ people’s committees secretariat, secretaries of communes’ people’s councils, communes’ commissars and commune police chiefs, their monthly allowances will be more than VNĐ2 million.

Officials holding other positions will be entitled to allowances of more than VNĐ1.8 million a month.

2. Three more cases that will be eligible for health insurance payment:

Circular 09/2019/TT-BYT by the Ministry of Health, which details health checks and examinations using healh insurance and will take effect from August 1, provides for new regulations in three cases that would be eligible for direct payment of insured healthcare service costs:

• Those who have participated in the health insurance programme for five consecutive years or longer and their co-payment made in the year is higher than six months of basic salary but not yet entitled to the insurer’s payment at the healthcare facility;
• Health insurance card information is not provided or inaccurate information is provided;
• Patients fail to produce health insurance cards before being discharged from the hospital or transferred to another hospital in case of emergency, loss of consciousness, death or that their card was lost and they have not received a reissued one.

In these cases, the social insurance agency that handled the patient’s dossiers will suggest direct payment for the patients within the scope of the benefits they are entitled to in the health insurance programme.

3. Raising pension and social insurance benefits for four groups:

Circular 10/2019/TT-BLĐTBXH by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, which takes effect starting August 15, provides for adjustments to the pension, social insurance benefits and monthly allowance for four groups of pensioners:

• Officials, civil servants, workers, public employees, labourers, military officers, public security officers and officers engaged in cipher work who are enjoying monthly pension;
• Commune, ward, and township officials – as detailed in the Government Decree 92/2009/NĐ-CP dated October 22, 2009, the Government Decree 121/2003/NĐ-CP dated October 21, 2003, and the Government Decree 09/1998/NĐ-CP dated January 23,1998 – who are enjoying pension and allowances on a monthly basis;
• People who are receiving monthly allowance for loss of working capacity; people who are receiving monthly allowance under Prime Minister’s Decision 91/2000/QD-TTg dated August 4, 2000 and Prime Minister’s Decision 613/QĐ-TTg dated May 6, 2010, and rubber workers who are receiving monthly benefits;
• Recipients of monthly occupational hazard and labour accident benefits.

Accordingly, these four groups’ monthly pension, social insurance benefits and monthly allowances from July will increase by 7.19% compared to the June level (2019 July benefits = 2019 June benefitsx 1,0719)./.