Encouraging people to join voluntary social insurance remains difficult

Tough issue

We followed Nguyen Thi Minh Yen, a social insurance agent in Tich Giang commune (Phuc Tho district), to visit a farmer’s house at Tuong Phieu hamlet. Yen said she was sad because local people are still indifferent to voluntary social insurance policies and only a few of them are willing to participate in.

Ms Yen(right) is explaining about health and social insurance to local resident (Source: VSS)

“Despite my persistence and efforts, I could persuade  just a dozen of people to join voluntary social insurance in 2017. For example, in the family of Ms. Hang at Tuong Phieu hamlet, only the wife signed up for the insurance. I am trying to persuade the husband to join”, she said.

Talking to us in her flower field, Ms. Kieu Thi Hang (33 years) shared that “My family grow flowers, so we can just make ends meet. Our income is unstable and depend on the weather. After discussing with insurance agents of the local post office, I joined voluntary social insurance from April 2017. I think this will be a savings for my old age. However, my husband is still hesitated.”

Mr. Ha Van Chu (34 years, Hang’s husband) explained that he was told about the insurance but still worried because the duration of paying voluntary social insurance premiums lasts for 20 years before I can receive pension and there are only old-age and survivor benefits plus a health insurance card. I’m also afraid of losing money if I participate in.”

According to Yen, this is also the concern of many people when joining voluntary social insurance. Furthermore, many locals are still confused between voluntary social insurance and other types of commercial insurance, so they are always afraid of losing money.

Mr. Dang Van Lien, deputy director of the social insurance agency in Phuc Tho district, talked about other difficulties in expanding the coverage of voluntary social insurance. He said the income of people in the area is normally low and unstable, especially those in rural areas. Most of people joining voluntary social insurance had participated in compulsory one earlier, and they continued to join voluntary insurance in order to become eligible for pension. The number of new participants is very limited. Additionally, many people do not understand fully the benefits of this policy and do not think of joining insurance when they are young to get retirement pension. Most of them still expect to depend on their children.

Sharing this viewpoint, Ms. Nguyen Thi Viet Ha, Vice Chairwoman of the People’s Committee of Thuy Khue ward (Tay Ho district), said there are many obstacles in encouraging people to join voluntary social insurance. Most of the target people do farming or free work with low and unstable income. Whereas, this policy has only two benefits of old-age and survivor, hence, unattractive.

Promoting communications

A survey at some communes and wards in Hanoi showed that communication work on voluntary social insurance is not effective because there is no attractive way to help people see the benefits of the policy. Thereby, a segment of people remain suspicious. They compare the benefits with interest rate of saving deposits in banks or mistake it with commercial insurance.

Many social insurance agents said the communication work on household health insurance is much easier than that of voluntary social insurance because health insurance brings obvious benefits. For example, when people go to hospital, they could see the value of health insurance cards. The adjustment of medical care fees also helped them saw the pros and cons of joining.

Meanwhile, voluntary social insurance is a long-term policy, so it is not easy for people to see the need to join and the benefits. Particularly, the communication work on voluntary social insurance depends heavily on numbers and calculations which are difficult to understand for many, and thus failed to attract them.

Sharing his opinion on this issue, Mr. Le Dinh Quang, deputy head of the department for labour relations from Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, said the communication work about social insurance and health insurance has been strengthened over the past time but still shown many limitations. He said the mass media have published many articles and programmes on social and health insurance policies; however, the number of people accessing the information is still limited or the provided information is difficult to understand.

According to Quang, at present, the communication work on social and health insurance policies is mainly in the oral form or through the mass media, leaflets or law bookcases. Other attractive forms of communication such as competitions and game shows are rare.

Moreover, the coordination between trade unions and local agencies and units in disseminating information on social and health insurance law is ineffective. The mobilisation of resources for communication work is not synchronous and widespread. Only a few of trade unionists are knowledgeable about social and health insurance.

According to Quang, the limited access to information makes it difficult to increase trust of people and workers on social and health insurance policies. In fact, many people who can afford the cards, are still reluctant to join voluntary social insurance.