Add beneficiary regime for voluntary social insurance participants

According to the draft Law on Social Insurance (amended), voluntary social insurance has added maternity benefits.

Specifically, the draft revised Law on Social Insurance proposes that employees participating in voluntary social insurance (including both female and male employees) who give birth and meet the conditions (paying social insurance for at least 6 months within 12 months before giving birth) will receive a subsidy of 2 million VND for one child.

The maternity allowance regime of voluntary social insurance is guaranteed by the State budget, voluntary social insurance participants will not have to pay more than at present.

Adding maternity benefits to the voluntary social insurance policy aims to increase the attractiveness of the voluntary social insurance policy, attracting people (especially young workers) to participate in voluntary social insurance.

Need to increase immediate benefits

The representative of Hanoi Social Insurance said that currently, the voluntary social insurance regime is not attractive because it has to follow the compulsory social insurance policy. Therefore, it is necessary to build a better voluntary social insurance policy, similar to that of business entities, but instead by setting out immediate benefits.

Firstly, regarding the health insurance regime, currently voluntary social insurance participants are not issued health insurance cards. To obtain a health insurance card, they must participate in family health insurance; voluntary social insurance participants are only issued health insurance cards when they retire. This is also considered a barrier that limits voluntary social insurance participants.

Therefore, the representative of Hanoi Social Insurance said that the Social Insurance agency should build a revised Social Insurance Law in the direction that people who participate in voluntary social insurance for more than 5 years will be granted health insurance with a benefit of 80% of the treatment cost. When people who voluntarily participate in social insurance meet the conditions of 15 or 20 years of pension, the health insurance card will be granted with a benefit of 95%.

Second, regarding maternity benefits, the draft amended Social Insurance Law adds an additional 2 million VND/maternity case for voluntary social insurance participants. However, according to the representative of Hanoi Social Insurance, the law should be regulated according to the contribution rate, because there are people who pay higher levels, so they will receive higher benefits, and the benefits should not be equalized.

“Maternity benefits should be calculated as a percentage of the contribution level. For example, if the salary is 2 million VND, it should be calculated as an average over the entire participation period, not at the time of participation. This will ensure fairness and attract people to participate in voluntary social insurance,” said a representative of Hanoi Social Insurance.

Regarding maternity benefits, former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs Bui Sy Loi said that while participating in social insurance, compulsory social insurance has 5 benefits (sickness, maternity, occupational disease, retirement, death) while voluntary social insurance has only 3 benefits. Of which, maternity benefits have just been included in voluntary social insurance, but according to the plan of 2 million VND/person, it is not yet considered maternity benefits.

According to Mr. Loi, the regime here must be calculated according to the plan based on the contribution level and the benefit rate. Compulsory social insurance participants are entitled to 6 months of maternity leave, while voluntary social insurance participants need to be entitled to at least 3 months of leave, receiving only 1 million VND per month, but it is not possible to stipulate a fixed level of 2 million VND.