Nursing insurance for seniors to be available

Writer: Han Ximin  |  Editor: Holly Wang  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2020-11-10

A long-term nursing insurance plan for senior citizens will be implemented starting from Oct. 1, 2021, according to the regulation on elderly care of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone that was publicized in detail Sunday.

The insurance plan will relieve the burdens of families of elderly people with disabilities.

The insurance fees will be collected at 0.1 percent of the average monthly salary of active working employees in Shenzhen in the previous year.

Employers and employees will evenly share the payment. Those with financial difficulties can be subsidized by the government. Based on the average active working monthly salary of 10,646 yuan (US$1,618) in 2019, an individual needs to pay 128 yuan a year.

The employers and employees will each need to pay 5.3 yuan per month. Retired residents will pay their own expenses of 10.6 yuan per month.

The regulation on elderly care in Shenzhen will take effect starting March next year.

Shenzhen now has about 1 million elderly people, including 300,000 with permanent residency permits (hukou). Among the hukou holders, there are about 8,500 home-dwelling elderly people aged between 60 and 79 and having medium to serious level of disabilities. There are about 40,000 people above 80 years of age.

The elderly people with serious disabilities can receive accommodation in government-funded elderly homes within three months after application. Newly built homes for elderly people should have at least 80 percent of the beds dedicated to elderly nursing purposes.

For elderly people with Shenzhen hukou and having great difficulties, the civil affairs departments should have them move into government-funded elderly homes within a month of their applications.

The elderly homes will differentiate charges on the different types of groups. The fee to the poor elderly people with Shenzhen hukou will be free. For elderly people with low income and medium-level disabilities, the fees charged will be based on the minimum subsistence allowance. For the other elderly people who are eligible for accommodation at government-funded elderly homes, the charges will be imposed according to the government price guidance, according to the rules.

The long-term care insurance mechanism is regarded as an economic compensation arrangement for elderly people when they lose the ability to take care of themselves.

The city has set its goal of building an elderly service system that is compatible with an aging population and the economic and social development of a pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics by 2025.

By the end of 2025, at least one service center for elderly citizens will be available in each subdistrict, and each community will have at least one service station for the elderly. By the end of June 2020, the city boasted of 50 elderly care institutions and a total of 12,879 elderly service beds.