Attending the conference were Vice Chairman in charge of the Council of Management of VSS, Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong; Vice Directors General of the VSS: Mr. Tran Dinh Lieu, Ms. Dao Viet Anh, Mr. Le Hung Son, Mr. Nguyen Duc Hoa, Mr. Chu Manh Sinh, along with leaders of units under the VSS. At the local level, there were leaders of provincial and municipal Social Insurance offices, leaders of specialized departments, and district-level Social Insurance offices.

Director General Nguyen The Manh presided over the conference at the focal point of VSS

At the conference, the Chief of the Office of VSS presented an overall assessment report on the results of directing, managing, organizing, and implementing tasks throughout the sector in the first three months of 2024. Accordingly, the entire sector continued to proactively and positively coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies in participating in the construction and amendment of laws, draft decrees, and circulars related to the implementation of social insurance and health insurance policies, such as the Social Insurance Law (amended), the Health Insurance Law (amended), etc. They also collaborated with the Department and Bureau of Health to address issues in health insurance examination and treatment, ensuring the rights of health insurance participants, and drafting and improving reports sent to the National Assembly, the Government, and relevant ministries and agencies.

Regarding the target of increasing the number of participants in social insurance and health insurance, it has increased compared to the same period in 2023. Specifically, the number of social insurance participants reached 17.392 million, an increase of 1.6%; of which, compulsory social insurance participants were 15.949 million, up by 1.49%; voluntary social insurance participants were 1.443 million, up by 2.77%. The number of unemployment insurance participants reached 14.243 million, up by 1.67%. The number of health insurance participants reached 90.168 million, up by 0.28%. The total amount of social insurance, unemployment insurance, and health insurance contributions collected by the entire sector until the end of the first quarter of 2024 increased by 2.18% compared to the same period in 2023.

At the conference, leaders of local Social Security offices in Dak Lak, Dong Nai, Thanh Hoa, Hai Phong, Vinh Long, Binh Duong, and Nghe An provinces delivered speeches outlining the situation and solutions for implementing social insurance and health insurance policies in their respective areas in 2024. Among these, the provinces identified a focus on intensifying advisory work for local authorities to introduce additional support policies for disadvantaged individuals participating in these policies, enhancing communication activities, developing scenarios, launching emulation movements, and assigning officials to closely monitor grassroots units and labor-using entities.

In their speeches at the conference, leaders of units under VSS provided assessments, guidance, and solution orientations for provinces and cities' Social Insurance offices to concentrate on implementing in the coming period.

Some focal points of local Social Security offices attending the conference

Deputy Director General Tran Dinh Lieu assessed that VSS has provided sufficient guiding documents regarding collection activities and the development of participants. However, some local Social Security offices still lack clear procedures, oversight, and accountability mechanisms in implementing social insurance and health insurance policies. Therefore, the Management Board of Revenue Collection and Record Management needs to advise the sector's leadership on improving the effectiveness of these directive bodies. Additionally, urgent coordination with the IT Center is necessary to guide local Social Security offices on organizing customer communication conferences according to the latest instructions from VSS.

In the field of health insurance, Deputy Director General Nguyen Duc Hoa requested that the Implementation Board of Health Insurance Policies continue to lead and coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to provide feedback and refine policies. Provincial and municipal Social Insurance offices should vigorously implement measures to tightly control healthcare costs under health insurance, ensuring the rights of participants, and accelerate the settlement of healthcare costs for 2023. The IT Center should urgently improve the functionality of assessment software and support localities in completing their tasks smoothly.

Concluding the conference, Director General Nguyen The Manh shared information about the Prime Minister's evaluations during the regular Government meeting in March earlier that day. The Prime Minister acknowledged that in the first quarter of 2024, amid new developments, thanks to the determined efforts of the entire political system, socio-economic situations continued to positively and comprehensively evolve. March's results surpassed those of January and February, and the first quarter of 2024 exhibited better performance than the same period in 2023 across most sectors. Social security work showed bright spots amidst these developments.

Director General Nguyen The Manh delivered concluding remarks at the conference

To contribute to these results, Director General Nguyen The Manh stated that in the first quarter of 2024, the entire Social Insurance sector of Vietnam achieved many positive outcomes, with all basic indicators increasing compared to the same period. This ensured the rights of participants, and administrative reform and digital transformation efforts were highly praised. The organization of the entire sector continued to be improved, especially the Inspection system, which was organized similarly to other ministries, indicating an elevated status for the sector. This serves as a foundation for the sector to continue to successfully implement tasks in the second quarter of 2024 and the remaining months of the year.

Regarding upcoming tasks, the Director General requested local Social Security offices to closely follow the sector's directives and the directives of Party committees, local authorities, and to closely coordinate with all levels and sectors in implementing social insurance and health insurance policies. Units under VSS need to proactively identify and assess practical challenges in policy and legal implementation, closely collaborate with relevant sectors and levels to propose amendments and supplements to social insurance and health insurance policies as needed, and actively respond to new, difficult, complex, and sensitive issues.

In terms of collection and participant development tasks, there is a need to strengthen the role and activities of the Implementation Boards for Social Insurance and Health Insurance policies at all levels, to leverage the leadership roles, assign targets, assess, inspect, and evaluate performance.

The entire sector will further innovate in content, form, and methods of communication, emphasizing the advantages of modern, multimedia communication methods on internet platforms to ensure people can access the best information about social insurance and health insurance policies. Units will enhance coordination to expedite collection and reduce outstanding payments, timely resolve and fully pay benefits related to social insurance, unemployment insurance, and health insurance, strengthen specialized inspection and examination, and promptly handle violations.

In addition, units need to maximize the efficiency of information technology and the sector's databases, ensure information security, implement synchronized measures to manage funds safely, sustainably, and effectively, continue to review, reduce, and simplify administrative procedures, streamline and improve organizational structure and staff quality. Strengthen discipline, financial discipline, and administrative discipline, leverage the leadership roles and responsibilities, clearly assign tasks and responsibilities with clear results, coupled with supervision and inspection from higher levels to lower levels and cross-checking; timely reward and strict handling of violations./.