Hanoi's social security system must continue to expand health insurance coverage to 94.5% of the population by 2024, according to a document recently released by the municipal People's Committee. 

The city government has asked the Hanoi Social Security Department to keep insurance arrears in Hanoi at or below the national average, control health care costs, prevent profiteering from the health insurance fund, and combat evasion of social insurance and unemployment insurance premiums. 

Elderly people receive medical treatment at a hospital in Hanoi. Photo: Hien Minh/The Hanoi Times

In the period ahead, the city will seek to increase the number of people registered for social security, unemployment insurance, and voluntary social insurance, the document stresses.

The municipality will increase banking penetration to facilitate the payment of pensions or monthly social allowances.

Deputy Director of the Hanoi Social Security Vu Duc Thuat said that as of late February, the number of health insurance enrollments in the capital city reached 7.9 million, or 89.61% of the city’s registered population. Voluntary social insurance has been signed up by 82,009 people, about 57.91% of the target set for 2024.

Meanwhile, the number of people enrolled in compulsory social insurance reached 1.8 million, 87.8% of the target. The number of persons paying unemployment insurance contributions was over 1.6 million, or 94.1% of the target. The number of contributors to voluntary social insurance was more than 37,000, or 5.19% of the target.

He pointed out several factors contributing to the enrolment of people into the social security system, including the city's partial subsidization of the premium for people enrolling in voluntary social insurance, which is twice as high as the general regulation. 

The Hanoi Social Security holds a meeting to deploy tasks for March 2024. Photo: VGP

"In addition to those who are given free health insurance cards according to regulations, the city has implemented a special policy to subsidize premiums in some cases," Thuat said. However, the socio-economic situation, which has not yet fully recovered, prevents many people from signing up for voluntary social insurance.

Many workers become unemployed and are forced to interrupt the process of paying compulsory social security contributions, or are forced to collect social security in a lump sum to cover immediate emergencies, Thuat stressed.

According to the Vietnam Social Security (VSS), health insurance now covers 93.35% of the country's population, exceeding the target set in the government's resolution on the socio-economic development plan for 2023.

Last year, the total premium from social insurance, unemployment insurance, and health insurance reached over VND472 trillion (US$19.24 billion), an increase of 8.55% over the previous year, 1.41% higher than the target set by the Prime Minister, while the total expenditure was VND439 trillion.

Meanwhile, the rate of people joining social insurance reached 39.25% of the labor force or 18.25 million people. The rate for unemployment insurance was 31.58%, or 14.69 million people, said the VSS.