The core issue is not the validity of the power of attorney
The draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Social Insurance (BHXH) is proposing to amend Article 10 of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance regarding the validity of the document authorizing others to carry out social insurance procedures.
Among the 2 options proposed, the option to remove the regulation that the power of attorney to receive pensions and social insurance allowances is only valid for a maximum of 12 months continues to receive much attention.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Trung - Lecturer of Public Management Department, University of Economics and Law, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City said that the concern that removing the 12-month limit may cause difficulties in managing beneficiaries or increase the risk of policy profiteering is well-founded. However, according to him, this is not a sufficient reason to continue to maintain current regulations.
According to experts, the core issue is not the validity of the power of attorney but the mechanism for controlling beneficiary information and risk management. In the context of digital transformation, data management will be much more effective than requiring people to periodically redo the power of attorney.
Mr. Trung analyzed that the regulation that the power of attorney is only valid for 12 months is not actually an effective tool to prevent fraud. If a person intends to profit, extending the power of attorney every year is not a significant barrier.
Meanwhile, those who receive pensions and social insurance allowances, who are elderly people, seriously ill people, people with disabilities or living far away, have to bear many troubles when repeatedly carrying out certification procedures or re-establishing powers of attorney.
In particular, after arranging administrative units, the scale of many communes and wards has been expanded, the distance from people's residences to commune-level People's Committee headquarters in some places is up to 20-30 km. This makes travel to carry out authorization procedures more difficult, especially for the elderly and people with disabilities.
The regulation limiting the term of authorization is creating compliance costs for the majority of people, but the effectiveness of fraud prevention is not really commensurate," Mr. Trung assessed.
Millions of pensioners will benefit
According to the expert, instead of managing with paper records, management agencies need to switch to managing based on data. Currently, Vietnam has many important platforms such as: National Population Database, Electronic Civil Status Database, data of the Social Insurance Agency, and electronic identification system.
When these systems are synchronously connected, the social insurance agency can automatically detect cases of beneficiaries who have passed away, changed personal information, changed place of residence or have signs of receiving abnormal benefits.
To make the removal of the 12-month limit for authorization to receive pensions and social insurance allowances effective, Mr. Trung believes that it is necessary to simultaneously implement many risk management solutions.
In which, it is necessary to promote connection and data sharing between social insurance agencies, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice and local authorities to promptly update personal information changes; classify the level of risk for authorized cases to focus on checking cases with abnormal signs; perform periodic electronic authentication or biometric authentication when necessary; strengthen post-inspection for cases of prolonged replacement or with large payment value; and clearly stipulate the legal responsibility of the authorized person and strictly handle acts of taking advantage of authorization to appropriate social insurance money.
I believe that risks exist but can be completely controlled if accompanied by modern governance solutions. It is not advisable to maintain an administrative procedure that causes inconvenience to millions of pension and social insurance benefits recipients, especially the elderly, because of concerns about a few cases of profiteering.
