Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga: Not encouraging receiving social insurance at one time

Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Hai Duong province answered the press in the hallway of the National Assembly

According to delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Hai Duong province, reducing the time to pay social insurance to receive pension, reducing the condition on minimum time to pay social insurance to receive pension (the draft Law on Social Insurance currently stipulates 15 years) aims to open up opportunities for employees who have reached retirement age but have only accumulated from 15 years to less than 20 years of social insurance contributions to receive pension, thereby expanding the coverage of old-age pension.

“I think this is very important for everyone because it reduces dependence on family and society. Of course, according to the contribution-benefit principle, the benefit level of this group is modest. We need to accept the fact that it is better to have many people receiving a low pension than none. Along with the pension is health insurance, this is a very solid support for old age,” said delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga.

Also according to delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga, regarding receiving social insurance benefits at one time, this is an issue that is receiving public attention. According to the ILO, Vietnam is the only country with a policy of receiving social insurance benefits at one time.

According to statistics from Vietnam Social Security, up to 80% of people receiving one-time social insurance payments are between the ages of 20 and 40, which is a paradox. Because when we are young and still have the ability to work to generate income, we use up all our "savings" for old age.

“I think this situation should not be encouraged but should be limited to the maximum extent possible to receive one-time social insurance. Because participating in social insurance is to ensure social security, to support workers in their old age. If everyone wants to withdraw social insurance at one time, then when they are old, what will life be like without pension and health insurance? Receiving one-time social insurance loses the social function of social security policy,” said delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga.

Some people believe that reducing the time requirement for social insurance contributions will increase the number of people receiving one-time social insurance contributions because they will calculate the one-time social insurance contributions so that at a certain age they continue to participate for 15 years to receive a pension. Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga said that this is a wrong calculation because the longer the social insurance contribution period, the higher the pension and this is very important when we get old, when our ability to generate income in old age has decreased or no longer exists. High pensions along with health insurance will be a solid support for workers when they get old.

There is an opinion that, currently, there is a reality that direct production workers over 40 years old are "disliked" by factories and have difficulty finding jobs. Therefore, they want to receive early retirement benefits. Regarding this issue, delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga said: We have the concept of working age. Determining working age must be based on sound scientific grounds.

According to delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga, there is confusion between working age and retirement age. Working age is the ability of a worker to work in a specific profession until a certain age (or how many years), while retirement age (old age retirement) is the age when the working age is over. The retirement age is 55 for women and 60 for men, and we have maintained it for 60 years.

Although workers over 40 years old may have difficulty finding jobs in factories, if they are still of working age and healthy, they still need to do other jobs to generate income and maintain their lives.

In addition, there are also many opinions that the benefits of employees are "suspended" when the enterprise owes social insurance, leading to the situation where employees find ways to refuse to participate in the system. Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga said: In order for enterprises not to owe social insurance, meaning that employees will not be disadvantaged in terms of benefits, the social insurance agency and state management agencies need to, on the one hand, strengthen propaganda work to employers and employees. On the other hand, focus on specialized inspection work according to their authority, or advise and coordinate with agencies performing the function of inspection, examination, and administrative sanctions against units that are slow to pay social insurance; even transfer files to the police investigation agency for units showing signs of evading social insurance payments.

The Criminal Code has defined crimes related to social insurance evasion and late payment. However, it has not been handled yet, so this must be considered, the Social Insurance Law must be amended to increase penalties to ensure deterrence. At the same time, it is necessary to increase the responsibility of relevant social insurance management agencies to prevent the situation of enterprises being late in paying, affecting the rights of employees. First of all, there must be solutions to protect the rights of employees when the unit goes bankrupt or stops operating.

In addition, employees themselves should also monitor whether the company pays social insurance for them on time. Currently, it is possible to monitor the payment process on the VSSID app, so checking this information is not difficult. If the company does not pay fully or late, employees can report to state labor management agencies to ensure their rights.

According to Tin Tuc Newspaper