The northern province of Ninh Binh is one of the three leadinglocalities with strong health insurance coverage for the elderly acrossthe nation with 100% of those between 75 to 80 years of age receivingfinancial assistance to buy health insurance cards, as released at aconference in the province on March 9.

According to figuresreported at the event, as many as 630,000 locals, including allhouseholds on the verge of poverty, have been covered by social andhealth insurance thus far.
The province’s social insurancesystem spends around 185 billion VND (nearly 8.7 million USD) per yearon social insurance benefits.

Speaking at the event,Deputy Minister of Finance and General Director of Vietnam SocialInsurance Nguyen Thi Minh asked the provincial Social InsuranceDepartment to work towards bringing additional benefits to labourers andlocals in general, contributing to ensuring social security andrealising the province’s target of over 85 percent of its workforcecovered by social insurance by 2020.

Le Hung Son, thedepartment’s Director, said the sector promotes the application ofinformation technology in managing the collection and payment ofinsurance premiums while simplifying related procedures and focusing onimproving the professional skills of personnel in the field.

It also abides by the State’s policies of social insurance in order tocreate equal rights for labourers in all economic areas, he added.

Onthe occasion, two local organisations were presented with thethird-class Labour Order and the Prime Minister’s certificate of merit,and 18 individuals received the insignia “For the Cause of SocialInsurance” by the Government in recognition of their importantcontributions to the locality’s social and health insurance coverageeffort.-VNA