Nghe An: Strengthening the collection and reduction of outstanding social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance debts

Strengthening the collection of social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance

In 2020, in addition to the efforts of the collective of officers and employees of the Social Insurance sector, Nghe An Provincial Social Insurance received the attention and direction of the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial People's Committee, as well as the close coordination from departments, branches, and the participation of the entire political system in implementing social insurance and health insurance policies in the province.

By the end of 2020, the whole province had 2,920,664 participants.Social insurance, Health insurance, voluntary social insurance, unemployment insurance (UI); achieved 100% of the assigned plan, increased by 83,771 people (up 2.95%) compared to 2019; the health insurance coverage rate reached 90.6% of the population, completing the socio-economic targets assigned by the People's Council and the Provincial People's Committee, exceeding 0.6% of the target assigned by the Government in Decision No. 1167/QD-TTg; the number of people participating in social insurance was 313,609 people (reaching a coverage rate of 16.84%).

Nghe An Social Insurance officers advise people on participating in social insurance and health insurance. Photo: Duc Anh

Total revenue from social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance by the end of December 2020 was VND 6,808,754 million, reaching 101.34% of the assigned plan, an increase of VND 448,639 million (up 7.05%) compared to 2019. By the end of March 2021, total revenue from social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance was VND 1,632,106 million, an increase of VND 91,122 million (up 5.91%) compared to the same period in 2020.

Focus on many solutions to increase revenue and reduce debt

As of March 2021, in the province, there were over 600 units owing social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance for 3 months, with an amount of 20 million VND or more.

The reason is that in 2020 and the first months of 2021, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, many businesses had to reduce production and business or temporarily suspend operations, unemployed workers had to quit their jobs; inspection and examination work was limited due to social distancing, leading to a decrease in the number of people participating in compulsory social insurance and unemployment insurance; and an increase in social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance debts.

Propaganda for people about social insurance and health insurance policies. Photo: Phan Lien

Mr. Hoang Quang Phuc, Head of Revenue Management DepartmentNghe An Social Insurancesaid: “The situation of social insurance arrears is on the rise partly due to the low awareness of social insurance policies and laws and the responsibilities of units, businesses, and employers towards employees. Along with that, a part of the people and employees do not have full understanding of social insurance policies and laws, and rarely fight to claim their rights when employers violate the laws on social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, and occupational accident and disease insurance.

In addition, in recent years, due to the general economic difficulties nationwide, as well as locally, many businesses have been operating inefficiently, production and business have stagnated, suffered prolonged losses, and had to stop operations. Currently, the Covid-19 epidemic continues to have unpredictable developments, strongly affecting the production and business of businesses, especially businesses in the passenger transport, tourism, accommodation, restaurant services, etc., leading to the inability to pay social insurance and health insurance for employees.

Propaganda about voluntary social insurance policy for people in Nghi Loc. Photo: PV

In 2021, according to the plan of Vietnam Social Security, the total revenue from social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance for Nghe An province is 7,298,806 million VND (an increase of 490,052 million VND compared to the results of 2020).

Nghe An Social Insurance identified this as a major difficulty and challenge for the province in 2021. Therefore, from the beginning of 2021, Nghe An Social Insurance has synchronously deployed solutions to urge collection and reduce social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance debts. In addition to regular solutions, the provincial Social Insurance has deployed a number of key solutions such as:

Advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue Directive No. 03/CT-UBND dated January 20, 2021 on strengthening the collection of state budget and collection of social insurance and health insurance in Nghe An province in 2021;

Actively coordinate with departments and branches in implementing legal policies on social insurance and health insurance, especially in urging collection and debt collection.

Nghe An Provincial Social Insurance organized a conference to sign and deploy the Program of coordination in implementing policies and laws on social insurance and health insurance for the period 2021 - 2025 between the Provincial Social Insurance and the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee, the Provincial Farmers' Association, and the Provincial Women's Union. Photo courtesy of Cong Kien

Specifically: Coordinate with the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs, the Labor Federation to sign the Work Coordination Program for the period 2021 - 2025; Coordinate with the Party Committee of the Enterprise Bloc to sign the coordination program for the period 2021 - 2023, focusing on propagating social insurance and health insurance policies and urging, directing, inspecting and supervising at labor-using units, especially for units in debt to fully perform the obligation to pay social insurance and health insurance according to regulations, ensuring the rights of employees;

Coordinate with the Department of Finance to appraise the final settlement of health insurance card purchase costs in 2020 for subjects covered by the state budget and estimate the need for state budget support funding in 2021 for subjects participating in voluntary social insurance and health insurance supported by the state budget;

Coordinate with the Tax Department to strengthen the management of tax-paying units and individuals, paying social insurance to prevent evasion and arrears of social insurance and unemployment insurance; Coordinate with the Department of Planning and Investment to review the list of enterprises that have temporarily suspended business operations, dissolved enterprises to complete procedures to stop paying social insurance;...

In particular, right from the beginning of the year, the provincial Social Insurance has organized a review and analysis of data. On that basis, it has established teams to urge collection and debt reduction for units with debts of 3 months or more and established specialized inspection teams on social insurance payments for units with long-term debts, not properly implementing the commitment to deduct social insurance and health insurance contributions with the social insurance agency. This will be the solution applied by the provincial Social Insurance throughout 2021 as well as the following years.

Consulting on voluntary social insurance policy for people in Hung Dung ward, Vinh city. Photo: My Ha

As of April 2021, the Provincial Social Insurance has established a direct debt collection team to work at 709 debt units managed by the Provincial Social Insurance Office, collecting the amount of VND 14,887 million, equivalent to 69.96% of the original debt.

At the same time, for units with long-term debt and large debts, the provincial Social Insurance agency is coordinating with the Public Security agency, the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs and the Provincial Labor Federation to work with the units.

In addition, based on the results of urging collection and reduction of actual social insurance debt every month and every quarter; the provincial Social Insurance will proactively deploy appropriate solutions to ensure the completion of the targets assigned by Vietnam Social Insurance.

With the VssID application - Digital Social Insurance provided by Vietnam Social Security, employees can proactively monitor their participation process and history of enjoying social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance. At the same time, employees can also perform the role of supervising the employer's social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance obligations. Contributing to publicizing and transparent information and limiting the debt of social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance for employees of units and enterprises.