Social Security Sector towards Service Administration Dedicated to People and Businesses

Driven by the tremendous progress of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and rapid international integration of social security in the region and in the world, the Vietnamese social security sector has always tried to focus all resources, carry out many strong solutions, reduce administrative procedures, time and costs for people and businesses when they conduct social insurance and health insurance transactions with social security agencies. Its efforts and performance have been recognized by the Government, the business community and the people.

Streamlining administrative procedures to facilitate businesses

Enterprises do not have to keep and manage social insurance books for employees: According to the amended Law on Social Insurance 2014, employees have the right to possess and manage social insurance books. Therefore, enterprises do not have to keep, manage social insurance books for employees. From January 2019 to now, 100% of enterprises have reduced the time and manpower updating and storing social insurance books. In particular, the handover of social insurance books brings a lot of practical meaning. For example, employees will have sufficient information about their social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance history, and will be annually informed of premiums and insurance periods by social security agencies. In addition, they can look up information about their social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance history on the Vietnam Social Security (VSS) Information Portal.

Eradicating the regulation that enterprises must request to change health insurance cards for employees every year: Not only spending less time and manpower for managing social insurance books for employees, from 2018, enterprises do not have to review and make an annual list of requests for replacement of health insurance cards for employees. These changes are greatly beneficial to businesses and holders of health insurance cards. Especially, they have significantly reduced the time to carry out procedures to extend and receive health insurance cards and transfer them to each employee.

Streamlining criteria needed to be declared in administrative procedures: “Registering and adjusting compulsory social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, occupational accident insurance and occupational disease; issuing social insurance books and health insurance cards: Specifically, enterprises only need to declare 5 out of 12 criteria in the Personal Information Declaration Form of the insured when they update their information; only need to review and confirm 5 out of 14 criteria in the Participation Declaration Form of employees when they update employee information. This change helps enterprises reduce the time to declare other criteria in the declaration forms when they need to update new information.

Simplifying records, redesigning declaration forms to help businesses reduce the time to update the information requesting settlement of social insurance regimes for employees: Enterprises’ written request form on settlement of claims for labor accident or occupational disease of employees remove the requirement for writing down the declaration content and this is replaced by ticking in multiple choices, abolishing the certification of tabulators and trade unions. Only one signature of enterprises is required in the claims for settlement of sickness, maternity, convalescence and rehabilitation benefits.

These changes and the abolition of record components: a copy of the occupational accident investigation record, the scene examination record, and toxic measurement record in Articles 57 and 58 of the Law on Occupational Safety and Health.

Breakthroughs in IT applications to better serve people and businesses

Strengthening business support in social insurance declaration submitted to social security agencies for employees, assisting individuals to declare claims for social security electronically: From 2017, the social security sector has adopted electronic social insurance declaration and payment, with the ratification-waiting time reduced to two working days from the date of receipt of electronic application forms. Currently, the time required to inform the reception and settlement of administrative procedures filed by enterprises and people has increasingly shortened and the service has also been made available by emailing and text messaging.

The Vietnam Social Security (VSS) has officially upgraded and provided free social insurance declaration and payment software (K-BHXH software) to the web version to support employers and individuals to perform electronic transactions with social security authorities from August 12, 2019. Accordingly, businesses and individuals only need to use internet-connected electronic means to declare "Social Insurance" online at the address: https://dichvucong.baohiemxahoi.gov.vn. This also allows individuals to apply eight administrative procedures related to settlement of social insurance regimes online. In case individuals who conduct electronic transactions about social insurance have not been granted digital certificates, they will be allowed to use electronic authentication code issued by the Vietnam Social Security and upgrade the K-BHXH Software to the web version. This has helped enterprises with more options to make social insurance declaration and payment.

Reducing the reception time, settling benefits for people with social insurance and health insurance: In recent years, the Vietnam Social Security has strongly deployed IT applications like building software for specific work across the system. In 2019, the VSS took another step in integrating professional software programs to check and collate collected and issued data on social insurance books and health insurance cards with the software created to approve benefits and pay social insurance benefits for employees, thus reducing much time for workers. At the same time, paying benefits to workers’ personal accounts also helped reduce the time for both enterprises and workers when they receive and directly pay the social insurance benefits for sickness, maternity, labor accident, occupational diseases for their employees.

Performing the task of building the e-government, the VSS has integrated the function to replace displaced, torn health insurance cards on the National Public Service Portal: From December 9, 2019, every individual can file an application form for reissue of health insurance cards identical to the old ones, they only need to have an electronic device (a computer or a mobile phone) connected to the Internet, access the address https://www.dichvucong.gov.vn to submit the form.

Thus, in the past time, with the efforts of the social security sector in reforming administrative procedures, applying information technology, a lot of barriers to the settlement of administrative procedures have been removed to save much time, costs and effort for enterprises and people when they work with social security agencies. Its performance has been highly appreciated by the Government and people. In the coming time, the VSS will further reform administrative procedures, integrate public services (Level 3 and Level 4) within its jurisdiction on the National Public Service Portal to increase the satisfaction of people and enterprises with the service of the social security sector.

By Huong Thom, Vietnam Business Forum