Social insurance law refers to a social security system in which the state establishes a social insurance fund through legislation to enable workers to obtain material assistance and compensation when they temporarily or permanently lose their ability to work or become unemployed.

After four deliberations, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the Social Insurance Law by a unanimous vote on the afternoon of October 28, 2010.

This is the first time that the highest national legislative body has legislated on the social security system.

The "Social Insurance Law" is known as the basic law. It is a law covering five major insurance categories: pension, medical care, unemployment, work-related injury, and maternity, and is related to the well-being of every citizen.

However, since the Social Insurance Law was included in the national legislative plan in 1994, it has been on a circuitous journey for 16 years.

Four Highlights Highlight 1: Pension medical insurance "roaming in different places" The transfer and continuation of basic pension insurance relationships are not smooth, which has become a prominent problem restricting the development of social insurance.

According to statistics from the Shenzhen Municipal Social Security Department, more than 5.8 million people in Shenzhen** participated in basic pension insurance in 2009, and 1 million people surrendered.

The Social Security Law passed this time has made the transfer into law in the form of national legislation. "If an individual is employed across a coordinated area, his basic pension insurance relationship will be transferred with him, and the payment years will be calculated cumulatively; when the individual reaches the statutory retirement age, the basic pension insurance will be divided into

The law also stipulates the transfer and continuation of basic medical insurance: "If an individual is employed across a unified area, his basic medical insurance relationship will be transferred with him, and the payment period will be calculated cumulatively." Highlight 2: Pension insurance "Nationally."

"Co-ordination" How to further improve the co-ordination level of basic pension insurance?

Hu Xiaoyi, deputy minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said that by the end of 2009, all provincial administrative regions across the country had formulated a provincial-level coordination system.

After evaluation, 25 provincial-level units have met the standards for provincial coordination, and 27 more units are under evaluation.

"On this basis, we will study a plan for national pooling of basic pensions." Previously, the draft social insurance law had not been very clear on this issue, but at the "last moment" before the vote, it made clear that it would improve the level of pooling of social insurance.

Regulations: Basic pension insurance funds will gradually implement national pooling, and other social insurance funds will gradually implement provincial pooling. The specific time and steps will be stipulated by the State Council.

"The biggest benefit of national coordination is that it can solve the problem of my country's vast territory and uneven regional development, and solve the problem of using the east to support the west and cities to support the countryside." Zhu Yongxin, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, commented.

Highlight 3: The collection of social security premiums will be strengthened. The society has always been very concerned about the issue of unpaid insurance premiums by some units and individuals.

"During the implementation of the social security system over the past 20 years, difficulties in collecting and paying social insurance premiums have indeed often occurred." Hu Xiaoyi admitted: "Some companies are indeed unable to pay due to objective reasons such as operating difficulties and being on the verge of bankruptcy, but there are also some

It’s because they have a low awareness of social insurance and intentionally avoid or avoid paying insurance premiums,” Hu Xiaoyi pointed out, “If there is no compulsory means for the payment of social insurance premiums, it will be difficult for the enforced social security system to continue to develop, and it will be difficult for workers to obtain their rights and interests.

Real protection.” In view of this, the newly introduced Social Insurance Law strengthens the obligation of employers to pay employees’ social insurance premiums and stipulates the compulsory measures that can be taken against employers who fail to pay.

In response to the phenomenon of non-payment of social insurance premiums, the law also stipulates very practical and rigid response measures: social insurance premium collection agencies can inquire about their deposit accounts with banks and other financial institutions, and apply for transfer to the relevant administrative departments; at the same time, no

If a guarantee is provided, you can also apply to the people's court to take measures such as seizure, sealing, or auction to pay social insurance premiums.

Highlight 4: Supervision “keeps an eye on” life-saving money. As of the end of 2009, the scale of assets managed by the Social Security Foundation has reached 776.6 billion yuan, and the safety of the fund has attracted attention.

Especially in recent years, major cases related to social security funds have been reported from time to time, becoming the focus of attention of the whole society.

When reviewing the draft social security law, some members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress repeatedly proposed that the current accumulated balance of social insurance funds is large and relatively scattered. In order to ensure the safety of the funds, "strict regulations and strengthened supervision should be implemented."

The newly promulgated Social Insurance Law fully absorbs the opinions of members and representatives and makes principle provisions on the supervision of social insurance funds: the state implements strict supervision of social insurance funds; the State Council and the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government establish and improve the supervision and management system of social insurance funds to protect the society.

Insurance funds operate safely and effectively; all aspects of society are encouraged and supported to participate in the supervision of social insurance funds.