Health insurance policy to be provided only to unemployed people who contributed to social insurances budget in Moldova

Chisinau, 5 October /MOLDPRES/ - The health insurance policy will be provided only to the unemployed people who contributed to the state social insurances budget and only for the period of payment of the unemployment benefit. The parliament voted, in the first reading, a legislative initiative aimed at cutting the number of jobless people able for work.  

The draft law was worked out by thee Labour and Social Protection Ministry (MMPS), in the context of the reform of the National Employment Agency (ANOFM) and the reform of the social assistance system. The legislative amendments are needed, in order to exclude gaps which facilitate the inactivity of the unemployed people able for work.    

The document’s authors suggest that the health insurance policy should be provided only to the jobless people who contributed to the state social insurances budget and only for the period of payment of the unemployment benefit. According to estimations by MMPS, this measure will generate incomes to the mandatory health insurances accounts worth up to 300 million lei. At the same time, the term of repeated registration with status of unemployed person and of the of the repeated application on the providing of the unemployment benefit will be extended from three to six months.   

Also, decision-makers will revise the procedure of getting unemployed people out of records, if the obligations are not observed. If they do not come in a period of 30 days or refuse a job without presenting a well-grounded reason, they might remain without unemployment benefit. This might generate savings worth about 1.5 million lei.   

The draft also sees the extension of possibilities of employment of jobless people who did not find a job in the first three months after their registration at ANOFM. More exactly, they will be given additional options of employment from the related professions and from occupations with a lower qualification.   

The document also envisages the revising of the way of calculating the quantum of the unemployment benefit for the people who were on maternity leave or on childcare leave for children up to the age of three years.  

According to statistics data, during 2022, 35,000 unemployed people were registered. Ten per cent of them enjoyed unemployment benefit and 5.4 per cent are disabled people.