At the conference, Ms. Huynh Thi Thuy Phuong, Vice Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City Women’s Union, emphasized that social insurance and health insurance are important social welfare policies of the Party and the State, serving as a “shield” to protect people against life risks such as illness, accidents, unemployment, and reduced or lost income due to old age and declining health.
As Ho Chi Minh City continues to develop rapidly, with a sharp rise in its migrant population and an increasingly diverse workforce of female workers, migrant women, and disadvantaged women, raising public awareness and expanding social and health insurance coverage has become more urgent than ever. The signing and implementation of the coordination plan between the two agencies reflects their joint efforts toward the broader goal of universal insurance coverage and the development of a comprehensive, modern, humane, and sustainable social security system.
Under the plan, the two agencies will coordinate propaganda activities on laws and policies related to social insurance and health insurance, with a focus on regulations governing voluntary social insurance and household health insurance through communication methods tailored to different target groups.
The plan aims to achieve a health insurance coverage rate of at least 95 percent by 2026 and universal coverage by 2030. It also targets enrolling at least five women’s union members in each commune, ward, and special zone in voluntary social insurance every year, equivalent to about 840 participants annually. In addition, efforts will be made to maintain the number of members participating in voluntary social insurance from previous years, ensuring stability and sustainability.
The two agencies will also coordinate the implementation of social welfare policies. This includes mobilizing organizations and individuals to provide financial support for social insurance books and health insurance cards for disadvantaged women members, single mothers raising young children, and elderly women aged between 60 and 64. Support beneficiaries must not overlap with groups already subsidized by the central or local budgets for health insurance coverage. Under the plan, the two sides aim to provide 200 health insurance cards annually to women members belonging to the above-mentioned groups.
Vice Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City Women’s Union Huynh Thi Thuy Phuong also called on grassroots-level Women’s Unions and local social security agencies to proactively develop specific, flexible, and appropriate coordination mechanisms; strongly innovate communication methods; and enhance the application of technology and effective grassroots mobilization models to bring policies closer to every neighborhood, every household, and every resident.
