Mr. Dang Minh Thong, Deputy Director of VSS Binh Thuan

Meaningful figures

According to the VSS Binh Thuan’s report for November 2023, the province recorded 97,866 compulsory social insurance policyholders, achieving 94.5% of the planned figure, marking a 0.8% increase from the previous year. Additionally, there were 9,192 voluntary social insurance policyholders (61.2% of the plan), 89,353 unemployment insurance policyholders (94.2% of the plan), up by 1.1% year on year, and 1,052,062 health insurance policyholders, reaching 92.5% of the plan with a 1.7% annual increase.

VSS Binh Thuan has demonstrated flexibility in deploying methods to manage and disburse benefits related to social, health, and unemployment insurance, ensuring the rights and interests of policyholders are upheld. It has maintained compliance with established processes and procedures, approving and resolving 62,133 social insurance and unemployment insurance claims, a 5.2% increase from the previous year. This includes 792 individuals entitled to long-term social insurance, 10,365 receiving unemployment benefits, 14,072 awarded one-time social insurance benefits, and 36,904 claiming benefits for sickness, maternity, and health leave.

 As of early December 2023, 18,241 individuals were receiving pensions and long-term social insurance benefits managed by VSS Binh Thuan. The resolution of short-term regimes through electronic transactions and documents was nearly universal, at 99.85%. The province facilitated over 1.8 million insured medical examination and treatment visits, valued at over VND698.1 billion, which is 92.93% of the allocated estimate for 2023. Furthermore, 97.3% of medical records were integrated into joint database systems.

A conference on disseminating social insurance and health insurance policies, as well as  illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing regulations

Increasing voluntary social insurance participation

To encourage people to buy voluntary social insurance to achieve social security goals, the 12th Party Central Committee issued Resolution 28-NQ/TW on social insurance policy reform, which aimed to expand social insurance coverage and move toward universal social insurance. VSS Binh Thuan coordinated with all-level party committees, authorities and agencies to advise the Provincial Party Committee to issue Action Program 52-CTr/TU on implementation of Resolution 28-NQ/TW, advise the Provincial People's Committee to launch an action program on implementation of the action program of the Provincial Party Committee in each specific period.

However, developing voluntary social insurance participants in Binh Thuan province in recent years, especially in early 2023, remained hard. The number of policyholders declined due to the increase in voluntary social insurance premiums while low-income voluntary social insurance policyholders could not afford or renew their insurance policies. Specifically, by the end of November 2023, Binh Thuan had 9,192 voluntary social insurance policyholders, reaching only 61.2% of the full-year plan, a decrease of 1,024 people (10%) from the same period of 2022. According to estimates, 676,877 people in Binh Thuan province were at the working age in 2023. As of October 31, 2023, the social insurance coverage reached 15.81% of the labor force, of which voluntary social insurance accounted for 1.35% of the labor force.

The decrease in voluntary social insurance policyholders is due to ineffective communication and low state support. The COVID-19 pandemic has further strained policyholders’ ability to continue their contributions. To address these issues, VSS Binh Thuan will enhance communication efforts, encourage active participation in social security policies, and emphasize the benefits of voluntary social insurance. This policy, supported by the Party and State, offers practical benefits to policyholders.

The conference on the propagation and dissemination of legal policies concerning social insurance and health insurance

Resolved to accomplish the tasks

Mr. Dang Minh Thong, Deputy Director of VSS Binh Thuan, said that in 2023, VSS Binh Thuan strived to fulfill and surpass the objectives set forth by the 14th Binh Thuan Provincial Party Congress for the 2020-2025 term. It was determined to achieve over 100% of its principal goals.

The social security sector has diligently implemented key resolutions and directives, including Resolution 06-NQ/DH of the 14th Provincial Party Congress and Directive 01-CT/TU, issued by the Provincial Party Committee on November 10, 2020. These documents guide the comprehensive understanding, dissemination, and execution of the 14th Provincial Party Congress’s resolutions. Additionally, the sector aligns with Resolution 28-NQ/TW of the Central Party Committee and the Government’s action programs and decisions on social insurance policy reform.

VSS Binh Thuan consistently provides updates and counsel to the Provincial Party Committee, People’s Council, and People’s Committee. This ensures that all levels of government and local authorities are aligned in their support and direction for the implementation of social and health insurance policies. The organization also intensifies its efforts to educate Party members, civil servants, public employees, workers, and the general populace on the significance, rights, and responsibilities associated with these policies. The goal is to expand the reach of social insurance and health insurance, ultimately achieving universal coverage.

As of the end of 2023, 92.25% of the province’s population was covered by health insurance, with projections indicating that this figure will exceed 95% by 2025.

VSS Binh Thuan will continue to coordinate closely with relevant bodies and localities in implementing social insurance and health insurance regimes and policies; manage and closely monitor social insurance and health insurance policyholders from the grassroots level; consolidate and strengthen the management of social insurance funds and health insurance funds to secure revenue and expenditure; fully and promptly implement regimes and policies on social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance, especially for workers in all types of businesses and people of all walks of life; and enhance the responsibility of employers in implementing social insurance and health insurance for their employees, he said.

VSS Binh Thuan will continue to reform its service methods to enhance openness, transparency, speed and timeliness to ensure rights and interests of social insurance and health insurance policyholders; intensify supervision and management of medical examinations and treatments to limit and prevent profiteering from medical examination and treatment funds; probe employers into social insurance and health insurance regimes for employees; strictly execute appropriate sanctions and penalties against organizations and individuals who intentionally violate and profiteer from social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance funds to gain benefits in contravention of the law; speed up administrative procedure reforms and electronic transactions in receiving and processing social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance documents; apply information technology to management, effectively carry out Project 06 of the Government; complete the apparatus of the social security sector at all levels, improve the working capacity and performance of the sector’s workers to meet new requirements and tasks.