Lam Dong Social Security office and relevant agencies are told to together strive to reach a health insurance coverage rate of 92.5 per cent this year.

The branch and the agencies also have to make efforts to reach the social insurance participation rate of 16 per cent and the unemployment insurance participation rate of 10.85 per cent this year, said Pham S, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, at an online conference held on March 15.

The online conference was organised to evaluate the results of the implementation of the social and health insurance policies last year and the deployment of tasks this year.

S said: “This is an important socio-economic target that we must complete.”

Therefore, to do that, all need to make more efforts, he said.

He also highly appreciated the achievements of the implementation of the social and health insurance policies last year.

The achievements exceeded the assigned targets, he said.

The achievements were made thanks to the attention and direction of the provincial Party Committee, the provincial People's Council, the provincial People's Committee, along with the active coordination of relevant agencies in developing the participants of social and health insurance, he said.

Also at the conference, the provincial People's Committee awarded certificates of merit to 18 collectives and 22 individuals, who made outstanding achievements in the development of participants of social and health insurance last year in the province.

Previously, Dau Tu Lan, director of the branch, presented at the conference the achievements of the implementation of the social and health insurance policies last year and key tasks for this year.

As detailed in his presentation, last year, there were 121,158 people participating in social insurance, reaching 15.27 per cent of the province's labour force, exceeding 1.27 per cent compared to the assigned task.

There were 1,240,708 people participating in health insurance, reaching 93.11 per cent of the total population, exceeding 1.11 per cent compared to the assigned task.

Participants at an online conference to evaluate the results of the implementation of the social and health insurance policies last year and deployment of key tasks this year

It was calculated that 79,408 people benefited from the social and unemployment insurance policies, with a total payment of VND2.89 trillion (US$122 million).

Besides, the branch also supported workers and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing to stabilising workers' lives during the pandemic.

The total number of people getting medical examination and treatment covered by health insurance was 1,636,462, with a total cost of over VND1 trillion ($42.2 million).

Thanks to the co-operation between the local education sector and the branch, there were 287,098 students participating in the health insurance system in the school year of 2022-23, reaching 99.16 per cent of the total students.

The bidding for drugs at medical facilities was strictly implemented and in accordance with regulations. The health insurance fund was used and managed safely and effectively, within the estimate assigned by the Prime Minister.

The local health facilities and the branch cooperated in applying information technology in medical examination and treatment covered by health insurance.

The facilities have accepted the image of the health insurance card on VssID – the digital social insurance app; and chip-based identity cards to replace the printed health insurance card for medical examination and treatment, covered by the health insurance.

Illustrative image (internet)

There were over 228,000 turns of people using their chip-based identity cards for medical examination and treatment.

Currently, all 183 local medical facilities connected and shared data on the health-insurance assessment information system.

The inspections, especially random inspections, have changed the perception of businesses and employers in payment of social, health and unemployment insurance in the province, thereby reducing the amount of debt paid by businesses.

Last year, the province was one of the localities having the lowest social insurance debt ratio in the country, with a rate of only 1.99 per cent.

Moreover, many organisations and businesses donated money to buy health insurance cards for people in difficult circumstances in the localities.