The Law on Social Insurance 2024: new features, increased benefits for participants

On June 29, 2024, during the 7th Session, the 15th National Assembly passed the Law on Social Insurance No. 41/2024/QH15 (Law on Social Insurance 2024) with many significant amendments. Compared to the Law on Social Insurance 2014, the Law on Social Insurance 2024 has numerous changes aimed at major goals such as: expanding the scope of participation; increasing rights and benefits in policy enjoyment to attract workers to participate in social insurance, ensuring long-term social security for the people; fundamentally addressing difficulties and shortcomings from the practical implementation of the Law on Social Insurance 2014; and strengthening sanctions against acts of late payment and evasion of social insurance contributions.

The new points, amendments, and additions in the Law on Social Insurance 2024 are significant issues with broad impacts on workers and employers, thus receiving a great deal of attention from the public. Therefore, from analysing data on social insurance benefits to evaluating the work of resolving, managing, and disbursing to beneficiaries, combined with analysing and synthesising practical implementation nationwide, VSS provided scientific and practical bases for the agency in charge of drafting the Law; and organised communication activities to survey and solicit opinions from workers and employers to contribute to the law-making process.

Vietnam Social Security identifies that the amendment of the Law on Social Insurance aims to increase the rights, benefits, and ensure social security for the people based on human rights as stipulated in the Constitution and to institutionalise the 12th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No 28-NQ/TW dated May 23, 2018, on reforming social insurance policies towards diversification, flexibility, multi-layered modernisation, international integration, and progressing towards full social insurance coverage for the labor force.

Accordingly, the proposals of VSS aimed at fundamentally resolving the difficulties and shortcomings from the practical implementation of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 and Resolution No 93/2015/QH13; ensuring constitutionality, legality, synchronicity, consistency, feasibility, compliance with international standards, and ensuring gender equality. At the same time, VSS also coordinated in building and supplementing a number of regulations on expanding and increasing rights and benefits in enjoyment, creating attraction, attracting workers to actively participate newly and building confidence in staying in the system for those who are participating. In addition, VSS also coordinated in finalising regulations on State management of social insurance, the rights and responsibilities of the social insurance offices as well as related organisations and individuals, and many other regulations in the draft Law on Social Insurance, contributing to building a comprehensive social insurance policy system, a professional, modern, effective, public, and transparent social insurance policy implementation organization system, which was agreed upon and voted for by a majority of National Assembly deputies.

In addition, VSS has intensified communication efforts regarding social insurance policies. This has contributed to ensuring that all levels, sectors, social classes, and workers understand social insurance policies correctly and comprehensively, as well as the draft Law. This fosters consensus in developing, refining, and implementing social insurance policies.

Optimising the rights of health insurance participants and beneficiaries

On November 27, the 15th National Assembly passed the amended Health Insurance Law at its the 8th session.

The Health Insurance Law No 25/2008/QH12 was passed by the 12th National Assembly on November 14, 2008. After 15 years of implementation, the Law has truly become a part of life. The number of health insurance participants has steadily and rapidly increased, approaching universal coverage, affirming the correctness and appropriateness of the health insurance policy based on the principle of risk sharing, which is a mechanism to ensure financial resources for the healthcare needs of the people, ensuring social security and international integration.

However, during the implementation process, problems, inadequacies, and limitations have arisen that need to be adjusted. Therefore, as the agency directly implementing the health insurance policy, in contact with the people, and grasping the actual situation, VSS has proactively identified difficulties and problems, while researching and proposing many solutions to amend, supplement, and improve policies and laws on health insurance. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the legitimate rights and interests of participants and beneficiaries are enhanced, better meeting the increasing healthcare needs of the people.

Vietnam Social Security's specific contributions to the development of the revised Health Insurance Law include:

Proactive and active participation in drafting the Law: VSS has closely coordinated with the Ministry of Health in developing and finalizing the draft Law amending and supplementing several articles of the Health Insurance Law. Many of VSS's contributions, stemming from practical implementation, have been adopted by the Ministry of Health and incorporated into the draft Law submitted to the National Assembly Standing Committee.

Proposing to expand health insurance coverage: VSS proposed adding the following groups to the draft Law: (1) Residents of safe zones and revolutionary safe zones during the resistance wars against France and the United States, whose health insurance is paid for by the State budget; (2) Ethnic groups who have moved out of areas with difficult socio-economic conditions or areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions, with the State budget supporting 70% of their health insurance contributions for a period of 3 years; (3) Victims of landmines and unexploded ordnance after the war; (4) People from households that have escaped poverty; (5) Elderly people aged 65 to under 75, with the State budget supporting their health insurance contributions.

Proposing to expand the scope of health insurance benefits: aiming to ensure the best benefits for patients with health insurance cards, VSS proposed: (1) Amending and supplementing the concept and content of health insurance appraisal; (2) Allowing patients with certain serious and life-threatening illnesses to receive out-of-network treatment without needing a referral; (3) Providing health insurance reimbursement for treatment of strabismus, nearsightedness, and refractive errors of the eyes for individuals under 18 years of age; (4) Adding regulations on the responsibility of the Directors of medical facilities in ensuring adequate and timely medicines and medical supplies for patients with health insurance cards; (5) Adding regulations on a mechanism for reimbursing the costs of purchasing medicines and medical supplies for patients in cases where medical examination and treatment facilities lack medicines and medical supplies due to objective and force majeure reasons.

Illustrative image 

Proposing to strengthen the Ministry of Health's responsibility in managing the Health Insurance Fund: VSS proposed that the Ministry of Health should: (1) Develop and submit to the Government solutions to ensure the balance of the Health Insurance Fund; (2) Direct health insurance-based medical facilities to practise thrift, combat wastefulness, prevent abuse, and profiteering from the health insurance fund; (3) Promulgate complete and detailed professional guidelines and scientific, transparent, and reasonable treatment protocols; (4) Direct solutions to avoid overload in medical examination and treatment; (5) Promulgate criteria for evaluating the quality of health insurance medical examination and treatment services; interlinkage of paraclinical results; a list of diseases treated at various levels of technical expertise; and (6) Strengthen inspection of health insurance medical examination and treatment.

Proposing to maintain Vietnam Social Security's right to inspect the use of the Health Insurance Fund: VSS proposed maintaining the right to inspect the use of the Health Insurance Fund for medical examination and treatment and the implementation of health insurance medical examination and treatment contracts. This is to enhance control, prevent wastefulness, abuse, and profiteering from the health insurance fund, and increase the responsibility of the Health Insurance Fund management agency.

In addition to the Social Insurance Law and the Health Insurance Law, during the year, VSS also actively participated in the development and amendment of other draft laws such as Law No. 44/2024/QH15 amending and supplementing several articles of the Pharmacy Law; and the Employment Law (revised)./.