National Assembly delegates from Nghe An delegation requested attention to resolving social insurance and unemployment insurance regimes for workers.

On the afternoon of October 22, the National Assembly worked in the hall and discussed in groups the implementation of social insurance policies and regimes, management and use of the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) in 2020 and promoting the implementation of policies and laws on health insurance, towards universal health insurance in 2019-2020.

Overview of the meeting at Nghe An bridge.

At the working session in the hall, the National Assembly listened to Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung present a Report on the implementation of social insurance policies and regimes, management and use of the Social Insurance Fund in 2020; Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long presented a Report on the management and use of the Health Insurance Fund in 2020 and the implementation of Resolution No. 68/2013/QH13 on promoting the implementation of policies and laws on health insurance, towards universal health insurance in 2019-2020. Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Social Affairs Committee Nguyen Thuy Anh presented a Report on the verification of these two contents.

Participating in the group discussion at the Nghe An Delegation, representing the Insurance sector, Mr. Hoang Van Minh - Director of Nghe An Social Insurance said that currently, Nghe An only has about 339,000 people participating in social insurance, reaching 18.5% of the age group, lower than the national average of 33.5% of the age group. However, Nghe An is the leading locality in the country in terms of the number of people participating in voluntary social insurance with about 95,000 participants.

Mr. Hoang Van Minh - Director of Nghe An Provincial Social Insurance spoke to the delegation of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An. Photo: Thanh Duy

Regarding health insurance, Nghe An has achieved a coverage rate of 90.71% with 2.84 million participants, nearly equal to the national coverage rate of 90.85%. However, according to the leader of Nghe An Social Insurance, the province's characteristic is that health insurance participants are supported by a large budget. Therefore, in 2021, when many villages, hamlets and communes are no longer in particularly difficult areas, people here will no longer benefit from the health insurance card issuance policy, so the number of participants has decreased by nearly 200,000.

Regarding support for businesses and people facing difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic according to Resolution 68 and Resolution 116 of the Government, the Director of Nghe An Social Insurance said that in the province, there are 6,857 units with reduced insurance contributions of VND 86 billion. In addition, it is expected that by November 30, 2021, Nghe An Social Insurance will complete payment of unemployment insurance support (UI) for employees with a total estimated cost of about VND 500 billion.

Making a recommendation to the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, Mr. Hoang Van Minh suggested that there should be sanctions for those who do not participate in compulsory health insurance; there should be a policy mechanism to support health insurance for people in ethnic minority and mountainous areas that are not in particularly difficult areas...

Mr. Tran Nhat Minh - full-time National Assembly delegate of Nghe An Delegation spoke at the discussion session. Photo: Thanh Duy

Participating in the discussion, Mr. Tran Nhat Minh - full-time National Assembly delegate of Nghe An Delegation proposed that the Government should clarify the causes, difficulties and obstacles in organizing the implementation of decisions on handling administrative violations in the field of social insurance; as well as the low health insurance coverage rate for households.

Delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An cited the Government's report that in 2021, nearly 90,000 enterprises withdrew from the market, of which up to 45,000 enterprises had dissolved or were in the process of dissolving. This raises the issue of the need to pay attention to resolving the social insurance and unemployment insurance regimes for employees.

Delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An spoke at the discussion session. Photo: Thanh Duy

Delegates also said that, in the context of businesses being affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, it is necessary to reduce, exempt or postpone social insurance and unemployment insurance payments for employers and employees during the period of social distancing in localities, so that employers have resources to revive businesses.