Social insurance and health insurance policies take effect from early December 2018

Foreign citizens working in Vietnam are required to pay social insurance.

Decree No. 143/2018/ND-CP dated October 15, 2018 of the Government detailing the Law on Social Insurance and the Law on Occupational Safety and Hygiene on compulsory social insurance for foreign employees working in Vietnam has some new points.

Illustration photo, source Internet.

About the closed object:Employees who are foreign citizens working in Vietnam are subject to compulsory social insurance when they have a work permit or a practice certificate or a practice license issued by a competent authority of Vietnam and have an indefinite-term labor contract or a fixed-term labor contract of at least 01 year with an employer in Vietnam, except for the following cases: Internal transfer within the enterprise as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 3 of Decree No. 11/2016/ND-CP dated February 3, 2016 of the Government detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Labor Code on foreign workers working in Vietnam; Employees who have reached retirement age as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 187 of the Labor Code.

About the payment level and payment method:

Employee contribution level:From December 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021, employees are not required to pay compulsory social insurance. From January 1, 2022, employees who are subject to compulsory social insurance are responsible for paying 8% of their monthly salary to the pension and death fund.

Employer contribution:From December 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021, employers are responsible for paying compulsory social insurance on the monthly salary fund of employees paying social insurance: 3% to the sickness and maternity fund; 0.5% to the occupational accident and disease fund. From January 1, 2022, employers are responsible for paying compulsory social insurance on the monthly salary fund of employees paying social insurance: 3% to the sickness and maternity fund; 0.5% to the occupational accident and disease fund; 14% to the retirement and death fund.

Based on the balance capacity of the occupational accident and disease insurance fund, the Government considers adjusting the contribution rate of 0.5% to the occupational accident and disease fund from January 1, 2020.

Closing method:Monthly.

Expanding many benefits for health insurance participants

Decree No. 146/2018/ND-CP issued on October 17, 2018 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance with a number of new points expanding benefits for health insurance participants.

Decree 146 adds subjects participating in health insurance:

- Group funded by the State budget: Frontline laborers participating in the resistance war against France, against the US, the war to protect the Fatherland and performing international duties as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 4 of Decision No. 49/2015/QD-TTg; Southern grassroots youth volunteers participating in the resistance war in the period 1965-1975; People's artisans, excellent artisans awarded by the State belonging to HOUSEHOLDS with an average monthly income lower than the basic salary.

- Groups participating in health insurance by household: Dignitaries, clergy, monks; People living in social protection facilities (not participating in other groups).

- Supplementing the Group paid by the Employer: Relatives of workers, defense officials, police officers and other employees in key organizations serving in the army, police and key agencies.

The benefits of health insurance participants are always expanded.

Decree 146 also adjusts the group of subjects participating in health insurance:People aged 80 and over who receive monthly survivor benefits will be transferred from the group paid by social insurance to the group paid by the state budget according to the provisions of the Law on Social Insurance; The poor will be divided into 2 groups: The poor according to income criteria; the multidimensional poor who lack health insurance (the state budget pays health insurance); People in multidimensional poor households who do not lack health insurance (the state budget supports 70%).

- Some special cases are considered to have continuous health insurance participation, including: Interruption of no more than 03 months; People sent by competent authorities to work, study, work or as spouses, spouses or biological children, legally adopted children under 18 years old following their father or mother working for a term at a Vietnamese agency abroad who have previously participated in health insurance; Employees working abroad, the time they participated in health insurance before leaving, if they participate in health insurance upon returning to the country within 30 days from the date of entry; Employees during the time of waiting for unemployment benefits according to the provisions of the Law on Employment, the time they participated in health insurance before is counted as the time they participated in health insurance; For police, military, and crypto officers when retiring, discharged, changing careers or quitting their jobs, if the time they studied or worked in the police, military, or crypto officers did not participate in health insurance, the previous time is counted as the time they participated in health insurance.

The Decree takes effect from December 1, 2018. Patients admitted to the hospital before December 1, 2018 but discharged after December 1, 2018 will receive benefits according to the provisions of Article 14 of the Law on Health Insurance./.