Nghe An: a bright spot in the development of voluntary social insurance

Many new ways

Nam Dan is one of the bright spots of the province in recent years in developing voluntary social insurance participants. In 2021, this locality had 5,977 people participating in voluntary social insurance, reaching 102.52% of the assigned target. Mr. Le Thiet Hung - Director of Nam Dan District Social Insurance said: "The complicated development of the Covid - 19 epidemic has significantly affected the propaganda and dissemination of laws on voluntary social insurance. However, Nam Dan has achieved many remarkable results when in 2021, there were 2,272 new participants in voluntary social insurance, accounting for 6% of the total number of social insurance participants, exceeding the plan assigned by the provincial Social Insurance".

Achieving that result is thanks to the close attention and direction of Nghe An Provincial Social Insurance, especially the participation of the Party Committee and the district government, which included the target of social insurance, health insurance, and voluntary social insurance coverage in the Resolution of the 27th District Party Congress, term 2020 - 2025; including the target of developing social insurance, health insurance, and voluntary social insurance as one of the annual socio-economic development targets of the district.

In addition, Nam Dan District Social Insurance has also advised the District People's Committee to establish a steering committee for the development of social insurance and health insurance participants at the district level. Up to now, 19/19 communes and towns have established a steering committee headed by the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee. At the same time, specialized staff are assigned to directly support agency staff and report to the commune Party Committee and government on the development of voluntary social insurance in the area. For difficult communes, Nam Dan District Social Insurance has assigned leaders to be directly in charge.

Nam Dan District Social Insurance officers advise customers on participating in voluntary social insurance. Photo: Dinh Tuyen

In 2022, Nam Dan District Social Insurance determined that the year will still be heavily affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, the development of voluntary social insurance participants will face many difficulties. Therefore, from the beginning of the year, the district Social Insurance has actively implemented solutions to maintain and develop participants. This includes sending an "Open Letter" directly to voluntary social insurance participants to share income difficulties, provide information on contribution levels, and support levels when participating.Voluntary social insurancenew according to Government regulations. From there, help workers understand and continue to participate to enjoy policies when they reach retirement age.

People come to do procedures at the one-stop department of the Social Insurance Department of Nam Dan district. Photo: Dinh Tuyen

Meanwhile, Yen Thanh district, the locality with the highest number of voluntary social insurance participants in the whole province, has many flexible methods of "sticking to the village, sticking to the people" to help this unit continuously make breakthroughs. In particular, the most prominent is organizing online conferences to propagate social insurance and health insurance policies, attracting hundreds of people to participate in voluntary social insurance right at the conference...

The success was due to the people's questions being answered specifically and thoroughly by the leaders of Yen Thanh District Social Insurance. Ms. Hoang Thi Chin - Director of Yen Thanh District Social Insurance said: "The most important factor for success is the close coordination between the local government and the Social Insurance agency in implementing the policy. That also helps to enhance the reputation of the Social Insurance industry, increasing people's trust in social security policies. After each conference, the Social Insurance and Health Insurance policies are spread because people's trust has multiplied when they not only have access to information from the Social Insurance industry but also have direct dialogue with government representatives and related departments and branches".

Yen Thanh District People's Committee held an online conference to deploy the plan assigned by the District People's Committee on developing voluntary social insurance and health insurance participants in 2022 and to promote dialogue with people in implementing voluntary social insurance and health insurance policies. Photo: Nghe An Social Insurance

Talking about the success of increasing numbers of people participating in voluntary social insurance, Director of Yen Thanh District Social Insurance Hoang Thi Chin added that only by staying close to the villages and people to propagate can voluntary social insurance be developed. With this approach, from 2017 up to now, there have been hundreds of propaganda and dialogues carried out at the grassroots level, by the district Social Insurance in coordination with the People's Committees of communes and towns. There are remote locations that require dozens of kilometers of forest roads, such as Dong Cau hamlet (Lang Thanh commune), where the district Social Insurance propaganda team only returned home after 11 p.m.; or conferences held during the Covid-19 pandemic, with a limit of 15-20 participants and sitting apart in the yard of the cultural house, are enough to ignite the enthusiasm of the Social Insurance propagandists...

In addition to effectively implementing propaganda conferences, Yen Thanh also expanded its network of collection agents to hamlet chiefs, block chiefs, Farmers' Association Branch Chiefs and Women's Association Branch Chiefs with nearly 2,000 people. This is the force closest to the people, understands the people best and implements the motto of going to every alley, knocking on every door...

Sustainable development of voluntary social insurance participants

By the end of December 2021, the number of voluntary social insurance participants in Nghe An was 103,769 people, continuing to be one of the leading provinces in the country in developing voluntary social insurance participants. The whole province has 11 districts/towns that have achieved and exceeded the assigned targets for developing voluntary social insurance participants such as: Que Phong, Nghia Dan, Con Cuong, Tan Ky, Yen Thanh, Thanh Chuong, Nghi Loc, Nam Dan, Thai Hoa Town... In 2022, Vietnam Social Security assigned the target of developing voluntary social insurance participants in Nghe An to be 134,900 people, an increase of 31,131 people compared to the end of 2021.

Mr. Le Thiet Hung - Director of Nam Dan District Social Insurance checks the development data of voluntary social insurance participants. Photo: Dinh Tuyen

It is determined that 2022 will have many difficulties and challenges in implementing tasks such as: The income of workers in the informal sector, which is already precarious and unstable, is affected by the prolonged Covid-19 epidemic. Limited financial capacity makes workers hesitant to participate in voluntary social insurance, or have participated but due to difficulties, they have to temporarily stop paying. Due to the impact of the epidemic, organizing direct propaganda conferences and organizing propaganda campaigns is facing many difficulties...

To strive to achieve the assigned targets and continue to sustainably develop voluntary social insurance participants, in the coming time, Nghe An Provincial Social Insurance will synchronously and drastically deploy solutions, focusing on implementing important solutions such as:

Proactively report and advise Party committees and authorities at all levels to effectively implement Resolution No. 102/NQ-CP dated August 3, 2018 of the Government on assigning targets for developing social insurance participants.

Develop and promulgate a scenario for developing social insurance and health insurance participants based on careful review, analysis, and evaluation, forecasting the targets to be achieved, and setting out specific tasks and solutions to achieve the targets.

People participating in voluntary social insurance receive and compare information on their social insurance books at the social insurance and health insurance collection agency in Hung Dung ward, Vinh city. Photo: Provincial Social Insurance

Continue to strengthen and expand the system of social insurance and health insurance collection agents to ensure effective operations and create favorable conditions for participants. Build an increasingly professional and modern collection agent system. Regularly organize training, equip knowledge, foster skills, methods of propaganda, mobilization, and consultation on voluntary social insurance policies and laws for the collection agent staff.

Proactively apply information technology to support the agency staff system in surveying, capturing, and classifying by age local residents who have not participated in social insurance to prioritize access, propaganda, and mobilize people with stable income to participate in voluntary social insurance.

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

Launch a movement among officials and civil servants in the entire industry and call for help from philanthropists to donate and give voluntary social insurance books to the poor. Promote propaganda work on policies and laws on voluntary social insurance with many forms and contents, flexible in organization, diverse in approach to adapt to the prolonged and complicated epidemic situation. Implement administrative procedure reform, improve processes and procedures for participation and benefit from voluntary social insurance policies, creating the most favorable conditions for people to access, participate and enjoy the regime.

Voluntary social insurance is a type of insurance of the Party and the State, for the benefit of workers and people, protected by the State, implemented by social insurance agencies. Participate in voluntary social insurance to enjoy benefits when you reach retirement age.

Implemented since 2008, voluntary social insurance is a policy of profound humanistic significance, opening up opportunities to receive pensions for all workers in all fields. If in the past, only cadres, civil servants, and public employees working in state agencies or workers with contracts at agencies, units, and enterprises were allowed to participate in compulsory social insurance to receive pensions, thanks to the voluntary social insurance policy, all citizens aged 15 and over (not subject to compulsory social insurance) have the right to participate to receive pensions when eligible.

In particular, voluntary social insurance has a very flexible payment method, with many payment levels for participants to choose from according to their financial capacity and future benefits. Voluntary social insurance participants can change their payment level from low to high and vice versa. In case of risk or reduced income, participants can temporarily stop paying and reserve the payment time to serve as a basis for connecting the payment time later.

At the same time, the connection between compulsory social insurance and voluntary social insurance allows employees who previously participated in compulsory social insurance, for some reason had to quit their job, then switch to participating in voluntary social insurance, or in the case of switching from voluntary social insurance to compulsory social insurance, the time they have paid is reserved as a basis for calculating social insurance benefits. In addition to the pension regime, participants are also given free health insurance cards for medical examination and treatment during their retirement period; relatives are entitled to death benefits and funeral expenses when participants unfortunately pass away.