People make examination and treatment procedures (Illustrative image. Source: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Around 12.4 million people have joined compulsory state social insurance as of the end of July this year, while 10.57 million are covered by unemployment insurance, Deputy Director General of Vietnam Social Insurance (VSI) Nguyen Luong Son reported at a working session on August 15.
Health insurance coverage has reached 79.2 percent of the population or nearly 73 million, but the membership of voluntary social insurance is negligible at just 192,000.
Son also said the VSI has pushed administrative procedure reform towards the goal of reducing the time for businesses to complete social insurance procedures to 49 hours per year by the end of this year, which is equivalent to the time in the four leading nations in the ASEAN. The time will be further reduced to 45 hours by 2020, in accordance with the target set by the Government in Resolution 19-2016/NQ-CP.
In addition, the VSI has taken other measures to facilitate the participation in social, unemployment and health insurance, including the reception and delivery of social and health insurance documents by post with cost paid by the insurance agency.
Representatives from other ministers and agencies acknowledged the insurance sector’s resolve, but noted that not all insurance agencies are making the same efforts.
Addressing the working session, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said the insurance sector should intensify administrative procedure reform in order to persuade more people to take social insurance.
He urged the sector to take drastic measures to achieve the goal of having 50 percent of the labour force covered by social insurance by 2020.
The Deputy PM required the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to think up solutions to get more than 2 million workers under short-term contracts to join social insurance.
He also told the Health Ministry to improve medical services for patients covered by health insurance.-VNA
