Chairwoman of the NA's Committee of Social Affairs - Nguyen Thuy Anh delivered a speech; photo source: Quochoi.vn

The number of participants in voluntary social insurance has gradually increased over the years

Reporting on the implementation of policies and laws on social insurance in the 2016-2021 period, Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee, Chu Xuan Dung said that the number of annual participants of social insurance in the city all reached and exceeded the assigned plan. In 2016, the number of social insurance participants was 1,433,704 people by 2021, it was 1,926,377 people, an increase of 34.36% compared to 2016. In 2020 and 2021, although the COVID-19 epidemic was complicated, the development of social insurance participants achieved positive results, in which the number of social insurance participants in 2020 increased by 47,074 people (up 2.6%) compared to 2019; and in 2021 increased 80,366 people (up 4.4%) compared to 2020.

Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Chu Xuan Dung presented reports at the meeting; photo source: Quochoi.vn

Regarding the situation and results of income and expenditure of social insurance for each year in the period 2016-2021, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee stated that every year, the city social security office always fulfills the target of collecting social, health and unemployment insurance premiums set by the Government and the VSS, in which the following year's revenue is higher than the previous year. In 2021, the total revenue increased by 66.97% compared to 2016. In the 2016-2021 period, the city social security agency paid pensions and social insurance benefits for nearly 10 million beneficiaries. The number of beneficiaries from the guaranteed state budget is 1,316,409 turns of people; the number of beneficiaries from the guaranteed social insurance fund is 5,390,106. In the period 2016-2021, the city social security agency has used the unemployment insurance fund for 3,255,324 turns of people.

Giving opinions on this content, members of the supervisory delegation, the City Party Committee, the People's Council, Hanoi People's Committee have synchronously and effectively implemented the regimes and policies of social and health, and unemployment insurance in accordance with the provisions of law. However, the members of the supervisory delegation also noted that this has some shortcomings and limitations, specifically, self-employed subjects with unstable incomes are facing many difficulties and barriers regarding participation in voluntary social insurance when the support level for participants of voluntary social insurance from the budget is low, and the benefits have only 2 regimes, which are retirement and survivorship, and the participation period to enjoy the retirement regime lasts 20 years.

Besides, members of the supervisory delegation and other delegates also pointed out that the handling of enterprises that are bankrupt, dissolved, or ceased operation, etc. is a difficult problem. The awareness of compliance with the law on social insurance of some employers is not high. Many units operate in moderation, which leads to prolonged debt. There are businesses that take advantage of the epidemic situation to deliberately evade social insurance contributions and failed to comply with the decisions, and inspection conclusions, and continued to prolong the debt, which greatly affected the interests of employees.

Members of the Supervisory Delegation gave their opinions at the meeting; photo source: Quochoi.vn

Continue to promote propaganda for major policies, ensuring to take care of people's social security life

Regarding the implementation of urgent social-health measures in the prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic in the spirit of Resolution 30/2021/QH15 of the National Assembly, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee said, regarding the professional work of epidemic prevention and control, the city has performed more than 7.7 million COVID-19 tests by RT-PCR method; monitored more than 14 million positive cases identified by rapid antigen test. As of September 4, 2022, Hanoi has received and distributed 17,949,623 doses of vaccine, of which 17,846,048 doses have been used (99.4%), in which, the remaining 103,575 doses (0.6%) have been used to deploy injections under the direction of the Government and the Ministry of Health.

Regarding the collection and treatment of COVID-19 patients, the Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee said, facing the complicated development of the COVID-19 epidemic situation, the city has issued a document directing effective management of collection and treatment of COVID-19 patients, meeting the requirements of each stage and each epidemic level. As a result, the total number of patients treated was 1,622,503, of which 1,616,825 recovered; 1,401 people died (0.086% rate, lower than the national death rate of 0.4%).

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan commented on the timely resolution of problems in the procurement of medical supplies, payment of medical treatment expenses covered by health insurance; photo source: Quochoi.vn

The City People's Committee has issued a Decision authorizing the settlement of support policies for departments, branches, and district-level People's Committees; to consider shortening the policy settlement process and time compared to the regulations of the Central Government. In addition to implementing the support policies of the Central Government, the city has promulgated many specific mechanisms and policies to support people to stabilize their lives in the difficult period due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic (specific policies can be found in the overall report).

In addition, some opinions from experts also mentioned the situation, in the initial period of implementing support policies, the provisions in the dossier composition of some procedures were not consistent with reality; or some concepts of subjects and occupations are unclear, etc., making the process of approving documents for employees and the need for loans of enterprises difficult. In the appraisal of conditions to support those in difficulty, most cases do not have a basis for inspection and verification, but mainly rely on information provided by employees and employers. As a result, overlapping policies are most likely to happen.

Delegates attending the meeting, photo source: Quochoi.vn

At the conclusion of the meeting, Chairwoman of the Committee of Social Affairs Nguyen Thuy Anh stated that the Supervisory Delegation recognized and appreciated the Hanoi People's Committee for seriously and promptly directing the implementation of the Committee of Social Affairs, and preparing relatively complete reports at the request of the delegation.