On August 30, at the Government headquarters, the Vietnam National Committee on Aging held a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long, Chairman of the Committee, to evaluate the work of the elderly in the first 8 months of 2024 and set out key tasks for the last 4 months of the year.
According to the Government Office, at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Le Van Thanh said that recently, the National Assembly has issued 9 laws related to the elderly.
In particular, the Social Insurance Law has been promulgated, stipulating that the elderly aged 75 years or older who do not receive a pension or monthly social insurance (SI) benefits are entitled to social retirement benefits.
The Government issued more than 10 decrees, including Decree 76 dated July 1, 2024, stipulating the standard level of social assistance for social protection beneficiaries at VND 500,000/month (about 1.5 million elderly people will have their allowance increased), Decree 75 dated June 30, 2024 on adjusting pension levels, social insurance benefits and monthly allowances (about 2.7 million elderly people will have their pension increased)...
According to the report of Vietnam Social Security, there are currently about 2.7 million elderly people nationwide receiving monthly pensions and social insurance benefits, and more than 14.6 million elderly people with health insurance cards. Currently, there are 275,000 elderly people nationwide continuing to participate in social insurance to be eligible for pensions in the near future.
According to the representative of Vietnam Social Security, one of the most necessary things for the elderly is to receive social benefits and have health insurance to take care of their health. From there, it is proposed that there should be policies to have more elderly people enjoy these benefits.
Concluding the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long stated that we are increasingly in a better position to implement the Party and State's policies for the elderly. Our policies are increasingly clear and relatively complete for the elderly.
There are many programs and projects that agencies, according to assigned tasks or from their own initiatives, have implemented. Quantifying support policies, the Deputy Prime Minister gave an example: the standard level of social assistance has recently been increased to 500,000 VND/month, an increase of nearly 40% compared to the old level.
However, there are still difficulties and obstacles in the work of the elderly. The lives of a part of the elderly are still difficult. Policies to anticipate the trend of population aging are not timely. Resources are still limited.
The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs to urgently complete and submit to competent authorities for approval the National Strategy on the Elderly, striving to complete it in November 2024.
In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to solutions and policies for the aging population; employment policies for the elderly. The project proposed by the Association of the Elderly (on starting a business and creating jobs) is only a specific task, but in the long term, it needs to be calculated and included in the strategy.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that efforts should be made to ensure the lives of the elderly, as the representative of the Social Insurance said, so that "their stomachs must be full and when they are sick, there must be someone to take care of them".
The Ministry of Health has stepped up the implementation of projects for the elderly, including coordinating with the Association of the Elderly, relevant agencies, banks, and sponsors to implement the humanitarian program "Bright Eyes for the Elderly".
