Hanoi Allocates Nearly VND 185 Billion to Support Voluntary Social and Health Insurance Participants

Hanoi has allocated nearly VND 185 billion (approximately USD 7.3 million) to support participants of voluntary social insurance and health insurance schemes during the first eight months of 2026. This initiative aims to enhance access to social security and maintain/expand participation rates. At a monthly meeting held by the Hanoi Social Insurance Agency on September 11, Deputy Director Vu Duc Thuat of the agency revealed the figures. The agency has been implementing various measures in line with the directives from the Vietnam Social Insurance Agency, the City Party Committee, the City People's Council, and the City People's Committee, in close coordination with relevant departments. Key policies contributing to the promotion and expansion of participation include the City Party Committee's Directive No. 06-CT/TU on strengthening leadership over social insurance and health insurance in Hanoi for the 2026-2030 period, and Resolution No. 17/2026/NQ-HĐND of the City People's Council on the content and level of support for social insurance and health insurance contributions for policy beneficiaries. Under these special resolutions, 151,584 people have received support for voluntary social insurance contributions, amounting to VND 57.1 billion. Additionally, 261,095 people have received support for health insurance, with a total of VND 127.5 billion disbursed. As of the end of August, over 8.6 million people in Hanoi were enrolled in health insurance, achieving a population coverage rate of 96.40%. Compulsory social insurance coverage reached over 2.6 million people, representing 48.23% of the working-age population. Voluntary social insurance participants numbered over 151,000, and unemployment insurance covered more than 2.5 million individuals, or 46.77% of the workforce. Total revenue for the eight-month period reached VND 60,462.3 billion, fulfilling 66.76% of the plan and marking an increase of VND 10,440.3 billion compared to the same period in 2025. Inter-sectoral coordination, involving the social insurance agency, police, and tax authorities, has been effective in collecting overdue contributions. For instance, the procuracy at various levels has urged 2,169 units, leading to the recovery of VND 126.77 billion out of VND 239.15 billion in arrears. Director Nguyen Ngoc Huyen of the Hanoi Social Insurance Agency commended the efforts of the staff and emphasized the upcoming months as a critical "final sprint" towards achieving the set targets. He stressed the importance of clear responsibilities and deadlines to successfully meet the goals assigned by the city and the Vietnam Social Insurance Agency. Director Huyen directed relevant departments and grassroots social insurance offices to focus on utilizing tax, financial, and population data to attract new participants in compulsory social insurance and to encourage voluntary social insurance and household health insurance enrollment. He also called for enhanced promotion of Hanoi's specific support policies and decisive measures to reduce the social insurance arrears rate to below 1.7%. Furthermore, the agency will closely monitor the utilization of the health insurance fund at 300 contracted medical facilities. IT applications will be employed to analyze data, detect early warnings of abnormalities in drug prescriptions, medical supplies, technical services, and inpatient admissions, while strictly refusing payments for improper claims and severely penalizing the abuse and fraudulent claims against the health insurance fund. Ensuring the secure payment of pensions and social insurance benefits, and maintaining the high rate of ATM-based disbursements are priorities. Inspections and audits will be strengthened to prevent fraud and fund misuse. The agency will continue to improve the quality of full online public services, clean data, and implement features on the iHanoi and VssID applications. Extensive promotion of student health insurance policies will be conducted at the start of the new academic year 2026-2027. Collaboration with media agencies, local broadcasting systems, and social media platforms will be leveraged to disseminate social security policies to every citizen and business.