According to the provisions of the Vietnam Social Insurance Law, it is mandatory for employees to pay Social Insurance, including health insurance and accident insurance. Yet, when a work accident occurs, insurance benefits are not paid much.
VnExpress newspaper on October 17, had a news article with the title, “Occupational accident insurance fund ‘collects more and spends less’,” giving information that startled insurance payers.
Accordingly, “Experts say that each year the labor accident insurance fund collects VND6 trillion, but spends VND1 trillion (accounting for 17%) due to low support levels, little for prevention work.”
VnExpress informed about the case of Mr. Nguyen Van Duong, in Binh Duong, one of more than 54,000 workers receiving benefits from the Accident Insurance Fund. In 2014, Mr. Duong had a work accident and fell from the factory roof to the ground. This accident left him paralyzed on half of his body.
Having lost 90% of his working capacity, Mr. Duong received a monthly allowance according to regulations of 1.48 times his base salary, plus a support amount calculated based on the number of years he paid insurance. The base salary in 2016 is VND1.2 million. The total amount he receives monthly is nearly VND2.5 million.
Up to now, because the base salary has been adjusted many times, the support level has increased to VND4.3 million.
From being the family’s breadwinner, Mr. Duong now has to use a wheelchair and receive little support, causing his family’s life to fall into poverty.
VnExpress quoted a report from the Department of Labor Safety (Ministry of Labor) saying that every year, Vietnam’s Occupational Accident and Disease Insurance Fund collects VND6 trillion, but spends only VND1 trillion (accounting for 17% ). The reason is that the level of benefits for workers suffering from accidents and occupational diseases, according to current regulations, is very low.
Currently, the monthly subsidy payment is based on the base salary of VND1.8 million, and is based on the specific disability rate of each case. Thus, the maximum allowance for people who are no longer able to work is only 1.68 times the base salary, which is about more than VND3 million/month.
For example, in Ho Chi Minh City, the Accident Insurance Fund in the first 9 months of 2023 collected more than VND307 billion – an average of VND35 billion/month. However, the expense for accident and occupational disease benefits is only VND82 million/month, the average expense for each case receiving benefits is only VND1.3 million/month. This level of expenditure is too low, workers who have an accident must receive this level of allowance, which is certainly not enough to cover their living expenses.
According to VnExpress, Mr. André Gama, Director of the Social Security Program of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Vietnam, commented that the accident insurance fund has a large surplus not because of “good revenue but because of spending too little” which means the payment policy is very low. This is completely unreasonable.
The International Labor Organization recommends that the Vietnamese government needs to adjust and increase the level of benefits based on the worker’s actual salary before the accident, not based on the base salary!
VnExpress also added that the Vietnam Social Insurance system also includes three other types of insurance funds, which are: Ear insurance fund, Death pension fund, and Sickness fund. By the end of 2022, the total balance of these three funds is more than VND1,100 trillion.
In the comments section of VnExpress, many readers wondered: “I don’t understand what purpose that big difference is used for? Collect VND6 trillion but spend only VND1 trillion, what is the remaining VND5 trillion for? If you deposit it in a bank, the annual interest earned is at least VND250 billion. Why not use that amount of money to spend more on workers who have accidents?
There are also many notable comments on social networks, such as: “The balance on the books is so large, but where is the money actually located and how is it used?” With such a large source of money, how easy is it for our officials to let it go?”
As a reminder, a few years ago, a series of leaders of the Social Insurance fund were prosecuted, including Mr. Le Bach Hong (former Deputy Minister of Labor – Invalids – Social Affairs cum General Director of Vietnam Social Insurance); Nguyen Huy Ban (former General Director of Vietnam Social Insurance) and Nguyen Phuoc Tuong (former Head of Planning – Finance Department of Vietnam Social Insurance). All were prosecuted for the crime of “Intentionally violating State regulations on economic management causing serious consequences.“
Thoibao.de
