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Original title: Long-Term Care Social Security Pilot Program Covers Nearly 120 Million People. The development of commercial care insurance has just begun. Source: China Economic Net
The social long-term care pilot insurance covers nearly 120 million people, and development of commercial care insurance has just begun.
Our reporter Leng Cuihua
Recently, a “Securities Daily” reporter at a Beijing subway station saw the National Medical Security Administration’s publicity and display of my country’s medical security system. The content of the advertisement included mainly four main topics, long-term care social insurance (hereinafter referred to as “long-term care social insurance”). It is one of them.
Nursing and caring for the elderly are closely related. According to the National Statistics Office, at the end of 2019, there were 254 million people aged 60 and over in my country, of which more than 40 million were disabled and semi-disabled.
The 2021 government work report noted: “Promote the integration of healthcare, health and wellness, and steadily advance the long-term care insurance system pilot program.” The reporter learned in the interview that the country’s long-term social care insurance has been tested in 49 cities, and covers nearly 120 million participants. However, commercial care insurance is just getting started, and expanding this market requires efforts in many ways.
Long-term care social pilot insurance in 49 cities
The long term care insurance pilot program in my country started in 2016, and it has been 5 years. Fifteen cities, including Shanghai and Chengdu, are the first group of pilots. In 2020, the second group of cities will start pilot projects. So far, a total of 49 cities have piloted long-term care social security.
Long-term care social security provides basic life care. The pilot is run by local health insurance bureaus and is carried out specifically by commercial insurance companies. The funds are raised from health insurance funds, companies, and individuals, and the standards vary from location to location. Judging from the first batch of pilot cities in Chengdu, as of January 1 of this year, all people participating in basic health insurance can apply for long-term care social insurance without additional payment, and people with severe disability can receive a monthly allowance of up to 903 yuan. A multi-channel financing mechanism combining government subsidies, health insurance pooled funds and individual payments has been established in 7 pilot areas, including Suzhou and Xuzhou.
In the area of long-term care social insurance, commercial insurance companies are actively involved in the business. Luo Xi, president of PICC Group, said that in 2020, PICC will undertake 96 long-term social care insurance projects, covering 42 million people. Currently, PICC Group is exploring this service in all provinces and cities.
Although the pilot cities continue to expand, there are still some problems in the current long-term care social insurance. Sun Jie, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and a professor at the School of Insurance at the University of International Business and Economics, pointed out that the financing channels for long-term care social insurance are too unique. relying mainly on health insurance funds as a source of funds, with little financial support, lack of independent financing channels, and clear personal payment requirements; at the same time, it is difficult to unify nursing standards; Furthermore, the supply and demand for nursing services are not symmetrical. In this sense, Sun Jie suggested that the high-level design should be strengthened to promote the construction of a long-term care social insurance system, incorporate it into the general plan for the construction of a multilevel and multipillar social security. and regulate and manage the operation of long-term care social insurance in the form of legislation.
The largest commercial care insurance takes a lot of effort
In addition to basic nursing needs, ordinary people also have more personalized nursing needs. Like the relationship between basic health insurance and business insurance, in addition to long-term care social insurance, business care insurance is also indispensable. The “Securities Daily” reporter learned in the interview that my country’s commercial care insurance is still in the early stages of development and its share in health insurance is very low. More efforts are needed to consolidate potential market space.
Wang Lin (pseudonym) was responsible for product development in a small and medium-sized insurance company, and was primarily responsible for promoting the development of commercial care insurance in the past two years. He has recently moved to other insurance companies. Talking about the development of commercial nursing insurance, Wang Lin said with emotion: “It is very difficult and it is a pity.”
Wang Lin believes that the difficulties in the development of commercial nursing insurance are mainly reflected in two aspects. First of all, consumer acceptance is not high and the demand for insurance often lags behind the emergence of risks. This phenomenon is also reflected in related surveys. The “China Long-term Care Survey Report 2018-2019” published jointly by the China Insurance Industry Association and the Academy of Social Sciences last year showed that more than 60% of the adults surveyed were too optimistic about their own disability risks and underestimated their future care needs. Second, for long-term care insurance, there is no disability assessment standard, service standard, payment standard, etc. that can be deployed nationwide, and the development of insurance products and the implementation of downstream services face limitations.
Although the first battle to promote commercial nursing insurance was defeated, Wang Lin remains optimistic about the future prospects of the commercial nursing insurance market. “If there is an opportunity, I will promote the development of commercial nursing insurance. The nursing needs of the disabled and semi-disabled are simply necessary. There is a lot of room for future development in this market.”
How to better promote the development of commercial nursing insurance? Zhou Yanli, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and former vice chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, suggested encouraging commercial long-term care insurance products to connect with health care social insurance. long term. Undertake guidance and policy support on data analysis and financing models, such as support for purchasing personal health insurance card account balances; In addition, it is recommended that the country, based on the current multi-site pilot program, formulate a unified national standard of long-term care as soon as possible, select and designate consistent standard assessment and evaluation agencies to support the development of long-term protection commercial insurance.
Zhu Minglai, director of the Research Center for Health Economics and Medical Safety at Nankai University, said that insurance companies should vigorously develop commercial long-term care insurance to meet the multi-level security needs of a society. aging. For young and middle-aged client groups, you can explore using long-term care insurance as a personal savings account similar to the second provident fund to pay for medical and nursing expenses after entering old age. The accumulation of funds can also provide a source of funds for the health care industry., To form a development model of the complete industry chain of “service system + guarantee system”. (Daily Values)
【Edit: Chen Haifeng】
