The proposal came under the draft of the revised Law on Social Insurance.

The draft law added chapter III on the social security retirement benefits, which stipulates that Vietnamese citizens aged 80 years and above without pension or other monthly social insurance benefits will be entitled to the social security retirement benefits, guaranteed by the State budget.

In addition, people, who receive monthly social security retirement benefits, will be granted health insurance cards in accordance with the Law on Health Insurance.

If a person, who is enjoying social security retirement benefits, dies, the relatives taking care of the funeral will be entitled to a lump-sum funeral allowance of VND10 million (US$425).

The Government stipulates the adjustment of the monthly social security retirement benefits and funeral allowance on the basis of increased consumer price index and economic growth in line with the State budget.

The revised Law on Social Insurance proposes to provide social security retirement benefits of VND500,000 ($21.2) per month instead of VND360,000 ($15.3) per month for people, aged 80 years and above, who have no pension and no monthly social insurance allowance

Assessing the impact of the amendment of the draft law, the drafting agency said that, according to the proposal under the draft, the additional expenditure for the adjustment of the social security retirement benefits is estimated at more than VND2.2 trillion ($93.5 million) per year.

The amount does not include expenses incurred when providing health insurance cards for the beneficiaries.

Also in the draft law, the drafting agency submitted that for people, who are 60 years old or older and have reached the retirement age as prescribed by law, but are not eligible for pension and social security retirement benefits, will be entitled to a monthly allowance during the period before receiving the social security retirement benefits. The allowance is equal to VND500,000 ($21.2) each month.

Illustrative image (internet)

Statistics show that, currently, the number of people receiving pensions, monthly social insurance benefits and monthly social allowances is more than 5.1 million nationwide, accounting for 35 per cent of the total retirees./.