During the recent National Assembly (NA) panel discussion session, the NA Standing Committee and the NA for the first time decided to choose social insurance as one of the topics discussed at the meeting, proving the importance of policies and regulations relating to social insurance – one of the key pillars of social security. Deputies highly appreciated the implementation of social insurance and health insurance policies of the Government, relevant ministries and the Vietnam social security sector.

NA deputy Nguyen Huu Thong, deputy head of the NA delegation of central Binh Thuan Province, spoke with the Vietnam Social Security Portal about this issue.

The NA recently discussed the implementation of social insurance and health insurance policies as well as the management and use of social insurance and health insurance funds. How do you assess these issues in recent years?

The Social Insurance Fund is the biggest non-budget fund which is managed via activities of the Vietnam Social Security Management Council under the chair of the Minister of Finance. The Social Insurance Fund is transparent and is supervised by the NA and made public before the NA each year.

The fund is formed on the basis of contributions from the State, employers and participants, and is ensured by the State. It has the responsibility to protect participants and demonstrates the State’s political commitment towards the social security policy. As a result, the fund is protected by the State and workers and people have believed more in the social security policies of the Party and State.

Discussions at the session showed that the Social Insurance Fund has been effectively managed and used. The payment for social insurance and health insurance benefits was ensured in a timely manner, supporting people and workers to overcome difficulties, particularly during the context of the pandemic.

In 2020, the total amount of money paid for social insurance benefits was estimated at VND240,765 billion. However, the real data revealed that the number of social insurance participants remained low, particularly the number of people participating in compulsory social insurance and unemployment insurance. The amount of compulsory social insurance collection increased but the growth rate was lower than that of 2019; the average salary rate based on which the compulsory social insurance and unemployment insurance payment was made did not increase much while social insurance and unemployment insurance debts tended to increase in 2021.

In order to ensure safety for the Social Insurance Fund and ensure payment capacity for social insurance and unemployment insurance benefits in a timely manner as well as the fund’s balance in the long-term period, it is necessary to focus on the following measures:

First, the Government needs to direct ministries and agencies to consult on building, amending and supplementing the legal corridor on social insurance, enhancing regulations, researching and proposing regulations to encourage businesses and workers to take part in social insurance and health insurance, and developing measures to address violations of social insurance regulations.

Second, completing the legal system, creating a legal foundation to institutionalise Party resolutions and address shortcomings and problems emerging during the implementation of social insurance and unemployment insurance policies.

Third, having synchronous and resolute measures in developing the number of social insurance participants and propose to amend and supplement regulations to allow workers who have labour relations but do not have labour contracts to join the compulsory social insurance scheme, particularly labour forces in the informal sector; and limiting one-time social insurance benefits.

Fourth, relevant ministries and agencies should have measures to address social insurance, unemployment insurance and health insurance debts to not affect workers’ interests.

Fifth, the Vietnam social security sector needs to build proper measures to develop participants for each period and each region; paying for social insurance and unemployment insurance benefits in a timely and correct manner; increasing inspections of social insurance contributions; and continue renewing and restructuring its apparatus to improve operation efficiency.

The Health Insurance Fund is created from money contributed by health insurance participants and support from the State following legal regulations on health insurance; from profits from investment activities of the Health Insurance Fund; and from donations of individuals and organisations inside and outside the country and other legal sources of income.

The fund is used to pay for health examination and treatment of health insurance participants; pay for healthcare activities of agencies and schools; paying for the fund management task; and for reserve fund. The Health Insurance Fund is managed transparently and publicly. The Vietnam Social Security Management Council is in charge of managing the fund and providing health insurance policy consultancy following the Law on Social Insurance.

In order to promote the development of the Health Insurance Fund, the Government needs to continue supporting health insurance for people in areas that are no longer eligible for health insurance supported by the State following the Government’s Decision No 861/QD-TTg because there are still many poor people in these areas who could not afford to buy health insurance cards at present, thus affecting the universal health insurance coverage target. It is necessary to build health insurance policies based on different groups of beneficiaries, instead of regions or areas as at present because it will be unfair for disadvantaged people.

It is also necessary to allocate Sate budget sources to increase the level of support for health insurance participants over 60 years old, particularly disadvantaged people and those living in ethnic minority areas, as well as increase the level of support for those involved in agriculture, forestry, fishery and salt production; increase inspections of the enforcement of health insurance policies and regulations; strictly punish those abusing the Health Insurance Fund; improve medical examination and treatment quality; and increase health insurance coverage.

Although facing many difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to assessments from the Government and the NA Committee for Social Affairs, the Vietnam Social Security has gained encouraging results in developing social insurance and health insurance participants, particularly voluntary social insurance. What do you think about these results?

From early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected all fields, causing disruptions to production and supply chains and business and services activities, forcing many businesses to stop operation and even go bankrupt, which resulted in workers losing jobs and having no income. This has therefore directly affected the implementation of social insurance and health insurance policies.

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However, the Government’s report and the examination report of the NA Committee for Social Affairs showed that through efforts of the whole political system, the Vietnam social security sector proactively consulted the Government and relevant ministries to issue policies to promptly address difficulties and challenges for businesses and workers during the pandemic.

The social security sector from central to localities has strived to resolutely implement measures to remove obstacles and apply information technology, so in 2020, the number of social insurance participants reached over 16.1 million (increasing by nearly 400,000 people in comparison with 2019), accounting for 32.8 percent of the labour force of working age, fulfilling the target set by the Government.

Particularly, the number of voluntary social insurance participants increased two-fold in comparison with that of 2019 to reach 1.128 million people. Of which, the number of farmers and workers in the informal sector participating in voluntary social insurance reached 2.31 per cent of the labour force of working age (exceeding the 1 percent target set by Resolution No 28-NQ/TW).

In 2021, the fourth wave of COVID-19 has made more workers lose their jobs, particularly in localities with a large number of workers like Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Long An and Tay Ninh as businesses stopped operation. However, the social insurance agencies of localities have had proper and creative measures to effectively mobilise people and businesses to develop social insurance and health insurance participants. As a result, in the first nine months of 2021, more than 14.5 million people participated in social insurance, including over 13.4 million people participating in the compulsory social insurance scheme and over 1.2 million people joining the voluntary social insurance scheme.  

With its flexibility and responsibility, the Vietnam social security sector has focused on managing and guiding information dissemination with various methods to raise public awareness of the benefits, necessity and importance of voluntary social insurance policies, helping to increase the number of participants, particularly among freelance workers, household businesses, farmers and those working at sea./.