|
CHINA> National
![]() |
|
Draft law of social insurance draws wide debate
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-19 22:38 BEIJING -- China's draft law on social insurance, which aims to create a universal safety net for all the country's 1.3 billion people, has fueled nationwide debate since it was opened to public comment last December.
Over a 50 day time span ending February 15, the country's top legislature had received a total of 70,501 suggestions and proposals, the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee said in a statement Thursday. The proposals, written on the NPC website by netizens or sent to the top legislature by letter, were from people all over the country, including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, the statement said. The social insurance draft, which underwent its second reading by the NPC Standing Committee last December, specifies a common right for citizens, urban and rural alike, to pay premiums and enjoy old-age pensions and insurance for medical care, work injuries, unemployment and childbirth. Many netizens agreed that the law is urgently needed as the government strives to expand domestic consumption in the face of the international financial crisis. "I believe domestic consumption will increase if people don't have to worry about old age and expensive medical fees," an anonymous netizen wrote on the NPC website. China has established several policies concerning social welfare since 1984. By 2008, about 219 million people have pensions and about 317 million have basic medical insurance. An additional 124 million have unemployment insurance, 138 million have work injury insurance and 91 million have childbirth insurance. Fu Yan, a migrant worker employed by a Beijing household management company, said both she and her husband do not have any insurance. "I didn't know anything about insurance when I signed a contract with the company. All I wanted then was a job," said 28-year-old Fu, who is from southwest China's Sichuan Province. |
旌德县| 波密县| 汉寿县| 南阳市| 伊金霍洛旗| 漳州市| 迁西县| 文昌市| 黑河市| 汉阴县| 顺昌县| 娄烦县| 思南县| 霍山县| 民勤县| 永新县| 塔城市| 永兴县| 静海县| 广宁县| 基隆市| 济南市| 正宁县| 东辽县| 揭阳市| 宕昌县| 宝山区| 郧西县| 三穗县| 木里| 云和县| 重庆市| 东丽区| 宿迁市| 什邡市| 文化| 双辽市| 曲阜市| 金阳县| 丁青县| 张家口市|