How should the social insurance reform in China be carried out?

After the overall goal of social security is determined, there is a lack of specific goals and long-term planning.

The Third Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee determined that the overall goal of China's social security system reform is to basically establish a complete social security system with multiple sources of funds, multiple levels of security, equal rights and obligations, and socialized management and services. The Third Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee also proposed that "the level of social security should be compatible with the development level of China's social productive forces and the affordability of all aspects." But so far, the specific goal is not clear.

● Lack of target setting for different security levels.

At present, China's social security system is mixed with insurance. What rights do citizens have and what rights are guaranteed by social security are basically confusing. There is no clear concept of what should be guaranteed by the government and what should be guaranteed by individuals. In this way, some of the rights guaranteed are not guaranteed, but the part that should not be guaranteed by social security has spent a lot of financial and material resources to guarantee.

● Lack of goal setting at different stages.

China's economy and society are in a period of rapid transformation and development. There is no clear understanding of what kind of social security level is suitable for what stage of economic life development and how to adapt it, let alone long-term planning and overall deployment. In this way, when there are any problems in the economy and society, relevant policies will be introduced immediately, which will inevitably lead to a situation of "treating the headache and treating the foot". There are many temporary policies and few long-term policies, and the system design is becoming more and more complicated, and the implementation cost is getting higher and higher, but the policy effect is often unsatisfactory and even leads to dissatisfaction.

■ The boundaries of powers and responsibilities of the government, enterprises and individuals are unclear.

China's social security reform is based on reducing the responsibilities of the government and state-owned enterprises. However, with the continuous advancement of reform, the definition of responsibility of government, enterprises and individuals is still vague. The proportion of national financial social security expenditure in total expenditure increased from 5.5% in 1998 to1.2% in 2005, with an average annual growth rate of 29.8%. Only the central government's investment in "two guarantees" and "minimum living security" increased from 9.6 billion yuan in 1998 to 80.4 billion yuan in 2005, with an average annual increase of 35.5%.

The investment of local governments at all levels in social security is also increasing year by year. But at the same time, enterprises and individuals generally feel that the burden of paying social security is getting heavier and heavier. The proportion of individual basic pension contributions has increased from 3% to 8% year by year, and the payment base has also increased year by year. People's dissatisfaction with the social security system is also increasing.

An important reason for the dissatisfaction of all parties is that the responsibilities of all parties are not clearly defined. Where the government's money is spent, the people are not very clear; There is no clear expectation for the rate of return paid by enterprises and individuals. So, what is the responsibility of the government and how much it should bear; We should further clarify the responsibilities of enterprises and individuals in what aspects and at what levels, and truly establish a responsibility sharing mechanism.

■ Avoiding problems left over from history and forming institutional defects.

China's social security system faces two basic realistic conditions: one is the problem of aging population; The first is the historical debt problem.

Population aging means that the proportion of the elderly population to the total population is getting higher and higher. 2 1 century, China has entered an aging society, and the degree of aging has intensified, and the burden coefficient of pension funds has gradually increased, and pension insurance payment will enter a peak period. While ensuring that retirees' pensions are paid in full and on time, the phenomenon that the pension funds are unable to meet their expenses and are short of funds has become increasingly prominent, and the pension funds have entered a state of intense operation, and some areas even have fund deficits. In addition, enterprise restructuring and early retirement make this problem more serious, which directly affects the operation and function of China's old-age insurance system.

Historical implicit debt is an important issue in the design of China's current endowment insurance system. The reform of social security system in China began in the mid-1980s. People who have retired before have not paid their pensions, so they have no personal accounts. For people who used to work, their personal accounts were incomplete from the beginning of pension payment. Therefore, the retirement expenses of these people can only be borne by those who are working. Under the pressure of historical debt, the social pooling of China's old-age insurance system and the combination of personal accounts have accumulated funds. Due to the empty operation of personal accounts, most areas exist in name only. Once China's economy enters a period of steady development and an aging society, it is impossible for the pension received in the current period to bear the retirement expenses of retirees. If we can't take various measures to solve the historical debt owed to middle-aged and elderly workers caused by the transformation of the old and new pension systems, it will eventually have a great impact on the social security system in China in the future. At present, the basic old-age insurance fund has a huge gap, the payment pressure is increasing year by year, and the payment risk is becoming increasingly prominent.

■ The problem of low overall planning level has not been solved for a long time.

● The social security system is not uniform among different places.

Over the years, social security reform has been decided by regions, and each region has formulated policies, standards and measures that are only applicable to its own region, resulting in different payment levels and management methods among regions.

● Difficulties in inter-regional transfer

Due to the non-uniform security system in different places, the transfer of social security between regions is blocked, which is not only difficult to transfer between provinces, but also difficult to transfer between provinces. This completely violates the requirements of the market economy for the free flow of labor. With the increasing mobility of human resources in China, the difficulty of cross-regional transfer has a great negative impact on the collection and distribution of social security funds.

● Various social security policies lack uniform standards.

Social security policies include basic old-age insurance, unemployment insurance, industrial injury insurance, maternity insurance, minimum social security and other types of insurance, and different types of insurance are often formulated by different departments. However, the social security coverage targets are both targeted and cross-cutting, and the introduction of various policies is often to solve outstanding problems in reality, which cannot be brewed for a long time, so there are contradictions and conflicts among various systems. According to different policies, different rescue or security standards can be implemented, and the newly introduced policies will affect the implementation of previous policies.

● Difficulties in fund management

According to China's current policy, social security funds below the provincial level can only be deposited in banks or purchased from government bonds. For some time, the interest rates of banks and government bonds in China have been low, and the current bank interest rate is lower than the inflation rate. When the real interest rate is negative, the social security fund is actually depreciating. This makes the already severe social security fund situation in China even more severe. On the other hand, it is difficult to guarantee the safety of social security fund management institutions below the provincial level if they invest. Therefore, in order to maintain and increase the value of the fund, it is necessary to improve the overall level of social security funds and conduct overall management at the central level.

■ The protection treatment of different social groups is unfair.

● The social security treatment between different regions is unfair.

The underdeveloped areas in the central and western regions are labor exporting places, and the exported laborers work in developed areas and pay social security funds. However, in the reality that it is difficult to improve the overall level of social security and transfer it across regions, the funds they paid can only stay in developed regions and cannot be recovered. This is also one of the important reasons for the abundant social security funds in the eastern developed areas and the lack of funds in the underdeveloped areas in the central and western regions, thus forming a strange phenomenon of "supporting the rich with poverty" and making the development of the already unbalanced areas more unbalanced.

● The social security treatment between enterprises, institutions and government personnel is unfair.

For a long time, the different operation and adjustment mechanisms of the social security dual-track system between enterprises and institutions have not only caused different social security burdens among employees of enterprises and institutions, but also widened the treatment gap between retirees of enterprises and institutions, resulting in unfairness and social dissatisfaction.

● Social security benefits are unfair between enterprises with different ownership and employees with different forms of employment.

At present, there is still a big gap from the goal of basic old-age insurance coverage. A large number of employees of non-public enterprises, flexible employees, migrant workers and landless peasants are still outside the old-age insurance system. The actual payment rate of the insured is not high, and the payment period is intermittent. In terms of unemployment insurance, employees in joint-stock enterprises, foreign-funded enterprises, private enterprises and township enterprises with the most unstable jobs actually have no unemployment protection. In terms of industrial injury insurance, the reality that China is facing at present is that the accident rate of high-risk industries is high, the incidence of occupational diseases is increasing, and the industrial injury problem of migrant workers is very prominent. Most migrant workers in cities are engaged in high-risk industries, and the risk of occupational hazards is much higher than that of employees in other industries, and they often do not participate in work-related injury insurance.

In fact, according to the current system, the more vulnerable groups need social security, the more they can't afford it. Take flexible employment and unemployed people as examples. No one pays the part that the enterprise should pay for it, but the base of payment should be based on the average wage of the local society. Therefore, a large number of low-income groups are simply unable to pay all kinds of social security, becoming long-term unpaid social security groups, and thus unable to enjoy social security.

● Inequality between urban and rural areas

The rural population accounts for the majority of the population in China, but the rural social security system has not yet formed. Although the Sixth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee explicitly proposed to establish a "social security system covering urban and rural residents", the new rural social security system is still in the exploratory stage, and the rural old-age insurance in most places is basically at a standstill. An effective institutional model has not yet been formed, and the development in various places is extremely uneven.

■ Technical problems of system design and management.

With the deepening of the reform of social security system, the design of social security system in China is becoming more and more complicated and the management cost is getting higher and higher. The construction of the whole social security system has obvious emergency characteristics, and the degree to which a security system is valued varies with the size of political voices of different social groups, the size of departmental power or the size of personal influence. The characteristics of non-institutionalization are very obvious, the level of legalization is not high, and even the existing laws and regulations are seriously lacking in law enforcement. There is a lack of communication and coordination between departments, systems and superiors and subordinates, and offside and absence sometimes occur. The financing of social security fund is not standardized, the fund management level is limited, and the supervision of social security fund needs to be improved. The level of electronic management also needs to be improved.

Further reading: How to buy insurance, which is good, and teach you how to avoid these "pits" of insurance.