The pension is always adjusted appropriately to ensure the life of the participants (Illustrative image)

Once an employee partakes in social insurance and meets the conditions for retirement age and participating time, he/she will be entitled to a monthly pension - a stable source of income to ensure life in old age. During retirement, they will also be provided with free health insurance cards (with 95% of medical treatment costs) for health care. Notably, the pension level is not fixed at the time of retirement but is periodically adjusted to go up according to the consumer price index and economic growth to ensure the life of retirees. Therefore, pensioners always have their value preserved and are not at risk when the currency depreciates.

In principle, social insurance benefits are calculated on the basis of payment rates and payment period of social insurance and are shared among the participants of social insurance. The rate of pension enjoyment is proportional to the new rate of payment of social insurance and the period of payment of social insurance, which means that the higher the payment of social insurance premiums and the longer the period of payment of social insurance, the higher the pension enjoyment will be.

In fact, there are some cases of pension enjoyment with a low level of entitlement, as employees pay social insurance premiums with a low payment, or the time of payment of social insurance is only minimal. There are also many cases where the employee retires early before the prescribed age, leading to a reduction in the percentage due to early retirement (currently, every year of early retirement will decrease by 2% for both men and women).

Some are concerned that the devaluation of the currency will affect the pension, affecting the legitimate interests of the participants of social insurance. This way of understanding is inaccurate, because in fact, the regulations of the social insurance policy have taken into account inflation or price slippage for employees' salaries on which social insurance premiums are based, not only when calculating the pension but also ensuring this factor during the employee's pension enjoyment for the purpose of ensuring the basic pension recipient's income to meet the needs of life.

Specifically, when calculating the pension enjoyment rate, the salary paid for social insurance as the basis for calculating the employee's pension is adjusted as follows:

- For employees who pay social insurance premiums according to the salary regime prescribed by the State, the salary paid for social insurance will be adjusted according to the base salary at the time of enjoying the retirement regime for employees participating in social insurance before January 1, 2016.

- For employees who pay social insurance premiums according to the salary system prescribed by the State but start participating in social insurance from January 1, 2016 onwards and those who pay social insurance premiums according to the salary system decided by the employer, the salary paid for social insurance as a basis for calculating the average monthly salary on which social insurance premiums are based shall be adjusted on the basis of the consumer price index of each period in accordance with the Government's regulations.

Over the past time, the pension level of retirees has been continuously raised, on the basis of the increase of the consumer price index and economic growth in line with the state budget and the social insurance fund. Since 1995, the State has made 22 adjustments to pensions to ensure the life of retirees. In 2022, despite the difficult economic situation of our country, the pension has been adjusted at a general rate of 7.4% since January 1, 2022. Those who retire before January 1, 1995, but after adjusting to the general level, that have the monthly pension or social insurance allowance of less than VND 2,500,000/month, will continue to be further adjusted. This shows that the State's social insurance policy is very interested in the income of pensioners, especially those with low pensions.

In fact, the social security agency - the unit that organizes the implementation of the policy has received many elderly people's sharing about their satisfaction with the current pension and they even encourage their children and grandchildren to participate in social insurance fully in accordance with the regulations. Besides, a lot of comments were received regarding the regret of employees who have received one-time social insurance, now want to return the one-time social insurance money, and continue to pay voluntary social insurance to enjoy pension and have a free health insurance card (during the pension period) for health care. Due to old age and the fact that illness will always be an uninvited guest, many elderly people still have to struggle to make a living and are under pressure of the burden of hospital fees whenever they are unfortunately ill.

It can be said that the increase in pensions with the view to improving the lives of retirees and reducing difficulties, especially those with low pensions and social insurance benefits, has always been of great interest to the Party and State. The government has repeatedly adjusted the pension increase over time, showing that the life of retirees is gradually improving. Therefore, employees can feel secure to participate and believe in social insurance policies of the Party and State. It is the best choice to have a pension and health insurance card as the most solid support for employees in old age./.