Long-term care insurance will achieve comprehensive coverage

Beijing Business Daily (Reporter Li Xiumei)
As an important measure to address the aging population, the Long-term Care Insurance (LTCI), known as the “Sixth Social Security,” has been piloted since 2016 and has now entered its tenth year. Over the past decade, the LTCI system has evolved from nothing to something, from pilot to expansion, achieving phased results. It is now transitioning from pilot exploration to a key stage of nationwide implementation. According to plans, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the National Healthcare Security Administration will accelerate the transition of the uniquely Chinese LTCI system from pilot to comprehensive establishment, gradually covering all citizens, and achieving new breakthroughs in system development.

This year, marking the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan, is undoubtedly a critical period for the full establishment of the LTCI system. “Long-term care insurance coverage for 300 million people” and “promoting long-term care insurance” were mentioned twice in this year’s government work report. The system has also become a hot topic at the National Two Sessions, with many NPC deputies and CPPCC members offering suggestions for its development, such as establishing and improving the LTCI system, standardizing LTCI regulations across provinces and cities, quickly formulating a Long-term Care Insurance Law, and building a comprehensive legal framework for LTCI.

Against the backdrop of expanding coverage and continuous policy improvements, service innovation by market participants has become a key factor in whether LTCI can “operate steadily and sustainably.” Beijing Business Daily has noted that, in the process of advancing this major livelihood project, commercial insurance institutions, as important service providers and product suppliers, are continuously exploring pathways to upgrade their service capabilities. An increasing number of insurance companies are participating in LTCI management, undertaking core functions such as fund accounting, service auditing, and disability assessment.

Fu Yifu, a special researcher at the China Merchants Bank, told Beijing Business Daily that insurance institutions’ involvement in LTCI mainly manifests in four dimensions: first, operational management services, including fund accounting, disability assessment, and service auditing; second, product supply, developing commercial LTCI products as supplements to basic protection; third, service network integration, leveraging their resources to connect with nursing homes, medical resources, etc.; and fourth, data and system support, assisting the government in building and operating information platforms.

In addition to policy-based LTCI, commercial LTCI is also expected to see broad development prospects amid surging market demand and policy window benefits. The “Guiding Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Health Insurance,” issued last September, mentioned accelerating the development of commercial LTCI and income loss insurance for the disabled, supporting commercial long-term care insurance to provide full-term protection after retirement. The State Council’s “Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Service Consumption” also proposed promoting deep integration of commercial health insurance and health management, enriching the supply of commercial long-term care insurance.

How should commercial insurance companies seize new opportunities during LTCI expansion? Fu Yifu stated that in terms of product innovation, they should develop differentiated commercial LTCI products, such as those targeting specific groups or combining with health management services; in service integration, building a closed-loop of “assessment—care—rehabilitation,” integrating home care, community care, and institutional care resources; and in ecosystem construction, collaborating with medical, rehabilitation, and elderly care institutions to create service networks, exploring “Insurance + Services + Technology” models, such as using smart devices to monitor and prevent disability risks, forming a long-term care service system covering prevention, compensation, and support.