Southern Metropolis Daily:

It has been three years since the pilot programs on long-term care insurance were expanded. What's your consideration in establishing the long-term care insurance system? How about those pilot programs? What's your priorities for the next step? Thank you.

Hu Jinglin:

Thanks for your questions, and I will answer them.

The long-term care insurance system is a major decision and deployment made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to actively cope with population aging, and also an important institutional arrangement to address weak links in the country's social insurance system. By the end of 2022, with 280 million people aged 60 and over who occupy 19.8% of the total population, China will soon enter a moderate aging society. With the acceleration of population aging and the increasing number of incapacitated elderly individuals, long-term care has gradually become a social focus. In order to properly take care of persons with disabilities, we have carried out a trial program on long-term care insurance in 15 cities nationwide since 2016 in accordance with the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. Since its establishment in 2018, the NHSA has made continuous efforts on this issue. We conducted follow-up assessments on the trail program with relevant departments and increased the number of pilot cities to 49. Till the end of last year, insured people in long-term care reached 169 million, and 1.95 million of them have already enjoyed the benefits. The accumulated fund expenditure reached 62.4 billion yuan, or 14,000 yuan per person per year.

At present, the trial program is progressing smoothly and achieved its phased targets. First, it effectively reduced the economic burden of families with persons with disabilities. Second, it promoted the development of the service system. The number of service institutions in pilot areas reached 7,600, four times the original number. Third, it created a large number of jobs. The number of nursing staff increased from more than 30,000 to 330,000, which has multiplied many times.

The 20th CPC National Congress made a strategic deployment of long-term care insurance system, and clarified the direction of reform. The NHSA will follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and strive to establish a long-term care insurance system with Chinese characteristics. Next, our work will focus on the following two aspects:

First, we will make continuous and solid efforts for the existing trial program. We will continue to study and improve the multi-party co-financing mechanism, guarantee mechanism for fair and appropriate treatment and other mechanisms formed in previous trail programs. Local governments will be guided to optimize and implement the criteria for assessing disability levels that were approved at the state level. We will also conduct pilot evaluation and targeted research on problems and weak links and then give solutions. Coordinated efforts with other departments will be made to forge policy synergy.

Second, we will work at top-level design for the long-term care insurance system. On the basis of summarizing and extracting the experience of the trial program, we will study and improve the overall goals and long-term plans for institutional development. A unified and systematic orientation, frame, policy, and standard will be set to regulate management and operation so as to form a long-term care insurance system with Chinese characteristics. Thank you.

Xing Huina:

Today's briefing is hereby concluded. Thanks to all the speakers and friends from the press. Goodbye, everyone.

Translated and edited by Zhu Bochen, Wang Qian, Guo Yiming, Zhou Jing, Cui Can, Liu Sitong, Yan Bin, Yuan Fang, Liu Caiyi, Liu Sitong, Yan Xiaoqing, Huang Shan, Lin Liyao, Wang Yanfang, Li Huiru, Tom Arnsten, and Jay Birbeck. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.