Many freelance workers have not participated in voluntary social insurance.

"Regret the iron hunting son"

Ms. Dang Thi D. (48 years old) in Pham Ngu Lao ward has been selling fruit in markets around Hai Duong city for many years. Ms. D. said that selling is becoming more and more difficult because there are many sellers, many people order online, so she loses customers. This job is risky, if the fruit is not sold within a certain period of time, it will spoil and have to be thrown away, losing both capital and profit. Selling for a month only earns a few million VND, plus her husband's meager freelance salary, so her family has to be very frugal to have enough to spend and raise 2 children. Many times when there is a funeral in the countryside, she has to say no because she can't participate in it all and doesn't have any money. Therefore, she has never thought about spending money to participate in voluntary social insurance.

“I also want to buy voluntary social insurance. If I buy it, I will have a pension in the future, life will be less miserable, and I won’t have to depend on my children. But I really don’t have the money to pay. Well, life is one day at a time, so I’ll just have to regret it,” said Ms. Dao.

Mr. Nguyen Van H. in Quang Nghiep commune (Tu Ky) is a mechanic. Because he is self-employed, Mr. H. works for many employers both inside and outside the province. According to the work agreement, Mr. H. is paid by the employer on a daily basis and is not covered by social insurance.

Mr. H. shared: “In the past, I had intended to participate in voluntary social insurance. But recently my wife gave birth to a third child, so the family expenses increased a lot. I thought that while I was still healthy, I would work to earn money to take care of my family, and then think about it when I was old. Now, every month, whether I work or not, I have to set aside an amount to buy voluntary social insurance, which is a pity, while the economy is not very abundant.”

According to the provisions of the Law on Social Insurance 2024, the subjects participating in voluntary social insurance are divided into two groups. One is people aged 15 years or older who are not subject to compulsory social insurance and are not receiving pensions, social insurance benefits, or monthly allowances. The other is employees who are temporarily suspending the performance of labor contracts or work contracts, unless the two parties have an agreement on compulsory social insurance payment during this period.

The monthly contribution of voluntary social insurance participants is equal to 22% of the income used as the basis for voluntary social insurance contributions to the Pension and Death Fund. Currently, according to the policy, voluntary health insurance participants are supported with a part of the contribution rate (depending on the status of poor households, near-poor households and other subjects).

According to current regulations, the monthly income level that voluntary social insurance participants choose to calculate the lowest voluntary social insurance contribution level is equal to the poverty line in rural areas of 1.5 million VND. The highest contribution level is 20 times the basic salary applied from July 1, 2024, which is 46.8 million VND.

As of October 31, 2024, Hai Duong had a total of 447,596 people participating in social insurance, accounting for about 53% of the working-age population. Of these, 55,093 people participated in voluntary social insurance, accounting for about 6.5% of the working-age population.

Thus, in the community, there are still about 47% of people of working age who have not participated in social insurance. This is not a small number, especially for the group of freelance workers. According to the reporter's survey, most workers do not participate in voluntary insurance because they are reluctant to spend money because of difficult economic conditions, plus the mentality of "building bridges where water goes" in terms of life perspective...

Increase benefits

Voluntary social insurance is a superior and humane insurance policy of the Party and the State, operating not for profit. When participating, people not only receive support from the State in the payment level but also enjoy many practical benefits such as: having the opportunity to receive a monthly pension and being granted a free insurance card to ensure life and health care when they reach retirement age; relatives receive a death benefit when the insured person unfortunately passes away.

To encourage workers to participate in voluntary social insurance, the Social Insurance Law 2024 (effective from July 1, 2025) expands the policy when voluntary social insurance participants will receive additional maternity benefits, at the rate of VND 2 million for each child born. Female workers who are ethnic minorities or female workers who are Kinh people with ethnic minority husbands in poor households when giving birth will also receive other support policies according to regulations.

In addition, according to the Law on Social Insurance 2024, social insurance participants in general are entitled to pension benefits when they reach the prescribed retirement age and have paid social insurance for at least 15 years. This is a practical policy, creating conditions for late social insurance participants, especially voluntary social insurance participants, to have the opportunity to receive pensions.

Mr. Luong Anh Te, Chairman of the Hai Duong Province Elderly Association, said that Hai Duong is currently a locality with a high rate of aging population in the country. It is worth noting that most of the elderly, especially in rural areas, do not have pensions and their lives are still difficult. Many people have children with limited financial resources or are single and have to rely on social security benefits from the State.

Ms. Pham Thi Bong, 71 years old, in Tien Dong commune (Tu Ky) lives alone. In the past, when she was still healthy, she mainly did farming to make ends meet. Now that she is getting older, she has more illnesses that have caused her health to decline and she cannot do any work to earn money. Because she does not have a pension, her living expenses have to rely entirely on social security benefits, which are currently over 700,000 VND/month. Ms. Bong said that the benefits are only enough for her to make ends meet, and she cannot find any other source to pay for monthly medicine and other expenses, and often has to ask relatives for help.

From the above facts, it can be seen that workers should consider participating in voluntary social insurance. This should be considered a source of savings to support health and old age.