Solutions for developing voluntary social insurance

(Baonghean) - Voluntary Social Insurance (VSI) is a form of insurance with many advantages, helping self-employed workers, people in rural areas... reduce difficulties and risks when they get old. In order to develop this type of insurance, the provincial Social Insurance has many forms of propaganda, popularizing new regulations, and supplementing preferential policies when participating in voluntary social insurance to the people.

Voluntary social insurance is a type of social insurance in which employees voluntarily participate, choosing the contribution level and payment method suitable to their income to enjoy the prescribed regimes. The subjects participating in voluntary social insurance are very broad, Vietnamese people from 15 years old and above who do not participate in compulsory social insurance can participate in voluntary social insurance.

As of March 31, 2016, Nghe An had 21,765 people participating in voluntary social insurance, reaching 73.58% of the estimate assigned by Vietnam Social Security, accounting for about 30% of the total number of social insurance participants participating voluntarily. Because it was the first province in the country to implement social insurance for farmers and then transferred to the provincial social insurance for management, the number of people participating in voluntary social insurance in Nghe An is quite large. Some districts have high participation rates such as: Thai Hoa, Nghia Dan, Do Luong, Yen Thanh, etc.

Southeast Economic Zone union officials raise questions about the Social Insurance Law at a training class.

According to Ms. Tran Thi Ha - Deputy Head of the Department of Collection Management - Social Insurance of the province, people participating in voluntary social insurance have many benefits, that is, when meeting the age requirement and having paid social insurance for 20 years or more, they will receive pension according to regulations; will be issued a health insurance card by the social insurance agency upon retirement and enjoy the same medical examination and treatment benefits as those participating in compulsory social insurance receiving pension; and will enjoy the death benefit regime...

Mr. Le Xuan Tho, residing in Quan Bau ward (Vinh city), used to be a worker at a mechanical company in Vinh Phuc. At that time, he was fully insured by his agency. Two years ago, due to family circumstances, he quit his job and returned to his hometown to open a workshop. After receiving advice from the social insurance agent in the ward, he switched to voluntary social insurance. Since then, although he has switched to freelance work, he can rest assured because he still fully participates in insurance. Mr. Tho shared: Before, I thought that only people working for the government or working for a business could pay insurance and receive a pension. But now, freelance workers also have that opportunity. This is a blessing for us, helping us worry less when we reach retirement age.

However, at present, the development of voluntary social insurance participants still faces many difficulties. Nghe An is considered a locality with a fairly high number of voluntary social insurance participants, but compared to the actual labor force of the province, it is still quite low. Most districts, towns and cities have people participating in voluntary social insurance, however, they are concentrated in localities with developed economies, while many localities have low social insurance participants such as Anh Son, Tuong Duong, Que Phong, etc.

Ms. Tran Thi Ha said: In the past, the propaganda, mobilization and implementation of social insurance policies have not been widely and synchronously implemented, so most workers and people have not fully understood the content, meaning and importance of social insurance policies as well as the registration process and procedures when participating in voluntary social insurance. In addition, Nghe An's terrain is large, diverse and complex, the subjects eligible for voluntary social insurance are mostly in rural areas, mountainous areas, coastal areas, with low economic conditions and many difficulties in life, making them ineligible to participate.

People of Ha Huy Tap ward (Vinh city) learn about voluntary social insurance policy through leaflets.

In addition, local budget resources are still limited, so there is no additional support policy for groups of beneficiaries as prescribed by law. Although the voluntary social insurance contribution rate varies according to the ability of the contributor, the lowest contribution rate is currently 22% (meaning that the participant must contribute at least 154,000 VND/month), which is not a small amount for freelancers and workers in rural areas in the province.

From January 1, 2016, the amended Law on Social Insurance has many new regulations on voluntary social insurance to partly overcome difficulties for participants, such as removing the regulation on the ceiling age for voluntary social insurance participation, removing the regulation on the lowest income level for voluntary social insurance contribution equal to the general minimum wage (now the basic salary), instead there is a regulation on "the monthly income level chosen by the voluntary social insurance participant, the lowest equal to the poverty line of rural areas" to suit the participation capacity of the people.

In addition, the law also stipulates that participants can flexibly choose the method of paying voluntary social insurance, which can be paid once for many years in the future or once for the remaining years to enjoy the voluntary social insurance regime. These policies will contribute to expanding the number of participants in voluntary social insurance, ensuring social security and reducing the budget burden in the future.

From April 2016, Social Insurance Law No. 58/2014/QH13 expanded the method of paying social insurance for people who have reached retirement age but have not worked for more than 10 years. They can pay voluntary social insurance one time to receive pension. The pension receiving time is calculated from the 1st day of the month following the month of paying the full amount for the missing years.

Voluntary social insurance contribution levels.

According to Ms. Le Thi Dung - Deputy Director of the Provincial Social Insurance, after the issuance of Circular 01/2016/TT-BLDTBXH dated February 18, 2016 of the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Social Insurance on voluntary social insurance, effective from April 4, 2016, the Social Insurance sector advised the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to direct departments, branches, unions, units and People's Committees of communes, wards and towns, social insurance and health insurance collection agents in the area, to propagate voluntary social insurance policies to all classes of people. On the basis of the budget assigned by the Provincial People's Committee and the Provincial Social Insurance, the Social Insurance of districts, cities and towns will assign the budget to the collection agents, attaching the responsibility of the agents in developing the subjects participating in voluntary social insurance.

In addition, based on the data being managed on the software for managing the professional activities of the Vietnam Social Security sector, the Social Security of districts, cities and towns proactively checks the number of people participating in voluntary social insurance. If the participants meet the conditions (women from 55 years old and men from 60 years old with a social insurance payment period of 10 years to less than 20 years), notify the list of eligible people to the collection agent.

For cases where participants come directly to the district Social Insurance to register for participation and request to pay the remaining months to settle the pension regime at the time of May 2016, the district Social Insurance will organize the collection and receive the dossier to settle the pension regime for the participants in a timely manner.

On the other hand, the social insurance sector will continue to effectively apply information technology to the development of subjects and settlement of social insurance regimes; promote administrative procedure reform, promptly and fully resolve social insurance policies for participants.

Minh Quan