Social security "sixth insurance", you have started to pay, do you know?

Do you know that you have already paid the "sixth insurance" of social security? In the past, we often said that social security has "five insurances and one housing fund", but now there is a "sixth insurance", which is long-term care insurance, referred to as long-term care insurance.

Long-term care insurance mainly provides nursing services and cost protection for the disabled, which can reduce the financial and care pressure of the family, ease the burden of family caregivers, relieve the pressure of medical insurance operation, and improve the quality of life of the elderly. In the context of accelerating "aging", the role of long-term care insurance will become more and more prominent.

In September 2016, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued the "Guiding Opinions on Carrying out the Pilot of Long-term Care Insurance System" to explore the establishment of a long-term care insurance system, which opened the prelude to long-term care insurance in China.

Evolution of long-term care insurance policies

So far, the pilot has covered 49 pilot cities, with about 170 million insured people, more than 2 million people enjoying treatment, about 65 billion yuan in expenditure funds, and 8,642 yuan per capita payment per year.

If you are in a pilot city, you have actually started to pay the "sixth insurance". However, the policies are inconsistent in different places, and the payment standards are different.

For example, in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, 45 yuan is borne by individuals and units each year for in-service employees, and 45 yuan is borne by individuals and medical insurance pooling funds for retirees.

For example, in Chongqing, both individual and unit employees pay 0.1% of the individual employee's medical insurance payment base, but it is withheld from the individual medical insurance account and the unit's medical insurance fund.

For example, in Kunming, Yunnan Province, both individual and unit employees pay 0.2% of the medical insurance payment base for individual employees. Retirees are subject to individual contributions and financial subsidies at the rate of 0.2 per cent of the base amount each.

Long-term care insurance was born late in China, and there are still some problems as follows:

1. Unclear institutional framework: Long-term care insurance lacks a unified institutional framework and is fragmented, including fragmentation of insurance objects, handling models and policy projects.

2. The sustainability of the fund: the financing channel is single, the medical insurance fund is threatened, and the future operation of the fund may face the problem of adjustment and insufficient capital reserves.

3. Intergenerational equity: Inter-generational and intra-generational equity needs to be improved, especially the lack of discussion and practice on the level of contributions.

4. Inconsistent assessment criteria: There are differences in assessment criteria in different regions, especially for people with dementia.

5. Insufficient matching of nursing projects: the adaptability of subsidy projects to the needs of the elderly needs to be improved, and it is difficult to unify the personalization and standardization of service projects.

6. Insufficient supporting resources: the supply of talents is insufficient, there are few commercial long-term care insurance products, and the regulatory body and system have not yet been formed.

In the future, in order to make the long-term and healthy development of long-term care insurance in mainland China, it can be improved from the following aspects:

1. Clarify the underlying logic: Long-term care insurance needs to clarify the basic positioning and underlying logic, including policy objectives, basic positioning and operation model.

2. Improve operational efficiency: strengthen the cohesion and integrity of the system, broaden the scope of guarantee projects, take into account standardization and flexibility, and establish an actuarial system and reserve system.

3. Balance the level of benefits: Consider the differences between regions and populations, manage the insured population in a unified manner, improve the supporting facilities and services of long-term care resources in rural areas, and set an age limit for the insured population.

4. Improve supporting resources: strengthen the training of nursing talents, build the foundation of the elderly care industry, encourage commercial insurance to join, and improve relevant legislation and supervision.

5. These directions involve all aspects of long-term care insurance, and require the joint efforts of the government, medical institutions, insurance companies and other parties to ensure the sustainability of long-term care insurance and provide better services for the elderly.

Finally, do you know that you have already paid the "sixth insurance" of social security, and do you think long-term care insurance is necessary for you?