At a working session on social security policies on the afternoon of August 25, General Secretary and President To Lam set a goal to basically form a multi-layered, inclusive, digitized social security system by 2030, ensuring a minimum social security floor for all people.
A noteworthy point is that the "minimum social security floor" is defined by essential needs: medical care, basic income, children's development conditions, support for workers when losing jobs, losing livelihoods, maternity, accidents, disabilities and care for the elderly.
That also means that the social security floor is not a general, vague concept, but a protective limit so that no citizen is left behind in the country's development journey.
The social security floor is the minimum level of protection that society needs to ensure so that all people do not fall into the situation of being excluded from essential services when encountering risks.
There, children are guaranteed education. Poor patients have the opportunity to access essential health services. Workers who lose their jobs or livelihoods always have support. Elderly people and people with disabilities are cared for.
And the multi-layered social security system is not only based on state assistance, but also includes insurance mechanisms, the participation of businesses, communities and the people themselves in preventing and sharing risks.
That is also part of measuring the true meaning of growth.
An economy that achieves high growth rates, average income is constantly improving, but if people fall into extreme poverty when unfortunately encountering events such as illness, unemployment, natural disasters or old age, then that development foundation is not truly sustainable.
Therefore, it is very necessary to concretize the requirement of "not leaving anyone behind" with checkable results.
For a long time, the limitations of social security policies often lie not in the lack of support programs, but in the stage of detecting subjects and organizing implementation.
Therefore, building a national social security database, establishing social security records according to the life cycle and building risk maps in each locality will help policies shift from passive to proactive.
The government must know which households are vulnerable to natural disasters, which workers are at risk of losing livelihoods, which children are likely to drop out of school, and which elderly people are living alone to provide timely support.
Of course, digitization must go hand in hand with accurate data, updated regularly, practically interconnected and ensuring privacy. It is impossible to let the system record people who have escaped poverty but miss out on cases that have just fallen into difficulties.
An interconnected data system will help identify the right people in need of support, reduce omissions and limit the situation where one person has to declare multiple times when accessing policies.
Social security cannot just stop at subsidies. A support package can help people overcome immediate difficulties, but sustainable employment, social insurance, vocational training opportunities and access to education and healthcare will help them stand firm for a long time.
The minimum social security floor, in the final analysis, is the State's commitment that despite adversity, each citizen still has a fulcrum to avoid falling to the bottom of hardship and still has the opportunity to rise up.
That is both a measure of a State for the people and a foundation for the growth achievements to truly become the happiness of the people.
