China Life Insurance conducts a digital intelligence financial-themed survey in Shaanxi, exploring new pathways for long-term care insurance and social security.

On March 25 of this year, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment of a Long-term Care Insurance System” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”), to establish a long-term care insurance system that is adapted to China’s basic national conditions, covers all citizens, coordinates urban and rural areas, is fair and unified, safe and standardized, and sustainable.
At the press conference held by the State Council Information Office on March 26, relevant officials from the National Healthcare Security Administration and the Ministry of Finance introduced the related situation.

As a new type of social insurance, long-term care insurance is called the “sixth insurance” in social security.
The long-term care insurance system is a social insurance system established by China on the basis of building the world’s largest social security system, specifically for disabled individuals, providing services or funding guarantees for their basic living care and closely related medical nursing.
The issuance of the “Opinions” marks that after a decade of pilot programs, long-term care insurance has officially entered a new stage of full implementation.

From April 20 to 23, China Life Insurance Company Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “China Life,” stock code: 601628.SH, 2628.HK) held a “Media View of China Life” research, interview, and press event in Shaanxi themed “Future China Life, Moving Forward with Innovation—Exploring the Power of Digital and Intelligent Finance to Safeguard and Improve People’s Livelihood.”
Led by China Life Group, organized by the life insurance company, this is the first stop of the 2026 series of research and interviews titled “Future China Life, Moving Forward with Innovation.”
Nearly 30 mainstream central and local media including People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency, Economic Daily, People’s Daily Online, Xinhuanet, Financial Times, and China Banking and Insurance News participated, and conducted on-site research in Xi’an, Hanzhong, Baoji, and Xianyang on China Life’s practical efforts in inclusive insurance, digital finance, rural revitalization, and other fields.

Image: Media interview group investigates China Life’s digital finance empowerment of livelihood security

During the research symposium, China Life shared with the media group the topic of long-term care insurance, which concerns thousands of households and embodies China Life’s strength, from four perspectives: the era’s proposition, China Life’s practices, Shaanxi pilot, and future outlook.

The Era’s Proposition: Long-term Care Insurance is Becoming a New Pillar of Social Security

“One person’s disability, the whole family’s imbalance”—these words reveal the real difficulties faced by countless families.
When an elderly person in the family becomes disabled, family members are often forced to take turns taking leave or resigning to provide care.
A disabled individual often impacts the normal lives of more family members.
Solving the long-term care guarantee for disabled persons is crucial for the bottom line of livelihood and social stability.

For disabled individuals, long-term care insurance is a “necessity,” greatly improving quality of life through professional care;
For disabled families, it is a “relief,” reducing the dual pressures of finances and caregiving;
For related industries, it is a “stimulus,” promoting the coordinated development of care services, rehabilitation aids, smart elderly care, and other upstream and downstream industries.

Since 2016, China has organized pilot programs for the long-term care insurance system.
By the end of 2025, the pilot had benefited over 3.3 million disabled persons, with fund expenditures exceeding 100 billion yuan.
The “Opinions” set a goal to basically establish a long-term care insurance system suited to China’s basic national conditions within about three years (by 2028), clarifying core policies on system arrangement, funding, benefits, and management.
Accelerating the establishment of a long-term care insurance system is an inherent requirement to actively respond to population aging, improve the social security system, unlock domestic demand potential, support the silver economy, promote employment, and enhance social vitality.

“We firmly believe that a long-term care insurance system covering all citizens, coordinating urban and rural areas, with clear responsibilities and moderate guarantees, will, together with basic pension and medical insurance, weave a more solid and warmer social security safety net for all,” China Life stated during the release.

China Life’s Practice: Market Leader in Professional Management of Long-term Care Insurance

As a leader in the domestic life insurance market, “serving the national development strategy and safeguarding people’s well-being” is China Life’s inherent mission.

For a long time, China Life has deeply participated in the construction of a multi-layered medical security system, being one of the longest-standing, widest-reaching, and largest-scale healthcare insurance service providers.
As a key state-owned financial and insurance enterprise, China Life regards participating in the long-term care insurance system as a major political and social responsibility.
Since the pilot began in 2016, it has proactively engaged, cultivating expertise over ten years to become an important executor of national livelihood policies.
As of the end of the first quarter of 2026, the company has operated over 80 long-term care insurance projects across more than 20 provinces (regions, cities).
In this process, it has played three main roles:

The first role is to be a “professional service provider,” helping the long-term care insurance run steadily and far.

National policies explicitly encourage the involvement of social forces in management services, providing a platform for commercial insurance institutions to demonstrate their professional value.
China Life leverages its advantages in operations, information systems, and network deployment to actively participate in the management of basic long-term care insurance.
Through professional and market-oriented operations, commercial insurers effectively supplement public service resources, enabling more timely responses to public demands, more scientific disability assessments, more accurate benefit payments, better service supervision, and safer fund operation.

“We have developed a ‘professional, standardized, intelligent, and humane’ management solution, and built an industry-leading ‘integrated long-term care insurance service management platform,’ achieving seamless integration from full-process management, system construction, to intelligent risk control, data analysis, and coordination with care institutions,” China Life said.

Pursuing professionalism:
Based on years of frontline experience, China Life has established a management system covering key links.
It actively participates in local policy design and data calculations, offering policy optimization suggestions, contributing wisdom to pilot exploration and system improvement.

Image: Medical staff providing care services to disabled elderly

Adhering to standards:
Maintains a strict work tone, improving assessment procedures, tools, and supervision mechanisms, building a comprehensive, multi-dimensional fund safety net, effectively preventing issues like subjective assessments and fund leaks.

Advancing intelligence:
Develops “Smart Long-term Care” management systems, using a “full-process management, internet application, multi-role participation” model to cover all business processes.
Utilizes AI visual recognition, big data anti-fraud technologies, and more to strictly control qualifications, processes, quality, and settlement, acting as the “gatekeeper” of funds.

Human-centered approach:
Explores a “assessment-service-supervision” closed loop, building a “home-community-institution” service network, practicing integrated “medical, elderly care, rehabilitation” paths, always striving to make services warm and high-quality.
For example, in response to resource shortages, China Life has trained a group of caring, nursing-savvy talents.
It also involves family members, relatives, and neighbors of disabled persons in caregiving teams, solving the issues of standard care, income hardship, and economic burden for families, while alleviating their financial and caregiving pressures.

The second role is to be a “diverse provider,” exploring multi-level development paths for long-term care insurance.

Policy-based long-term care insurance adheres to the principle of “covering basic needs,” providing a safety net for families.
Commercial long-term care insurance focuses on people’s diverse, personalized protection needs.
The basic and commercial long-term care insurance work together to build a “basic + diversified” multi-layered long-term care protection framework.

Since 2009, China Life has gradually explored care insurance product supply, offering care guarantees for specific diseases and accidental disabilities, providing consumers with more options.
It actively promotes the conversion of life insurance responsibilities to long-term care insurance responsibilities, supporting policyholders to convert eligible policies.
It also participates in tax-advantaged care insurance, allowing consumers to enjoy personal income tax benefits while building risk buffers.

The third role is to be an “ecological participant,” enriching care service resources.

China Life not only provides risk protection but also strives to integrate service resources, solving the pain point of “having insurance but lacking services.”
In recent years, the company has strengthened its comprehensive supply capacity of “elderly financial services + elderly care services.”
It has initiated a health industry fund of 50 billion yuan, a large elderly care fund of 20 billion yuan, and a silver industry fund of 10 billion yuan, actively promoting the layout of CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community), urban elderly care apartments, and health tourism products.
It has established 20 institutional elderly care projects in 16 cities to meet diverse elderly care needs.
The “Guoshou Jiayuan” brand under China Life Group offers integrated solutions combining medical and elderly care, vibrant elderly living, professional care, and migratory retirement.
The Insurance Vocational College has also cultivated many professional talents in nursing and elderly service management.

Image: Guoshou Jiayuan·Beijing Lejing

“Our goal is not only to provide ‘funds’ for long-term care insurance but also to connect high-quality accessible ‘care services’ through ecological resources, enriching the market’s care resources,” China Life stated.

Shaanxi Pilot: The “Sanqin Model” of Long-term Care Insurance Exploration

Since Hanzhong City was included as a national pilot city for long-term care insurance, China Life Shaanxi Branch has actively participated in management services.

Innovating a “diversified” system:
The Hanzhong project has explored a “multi-source funding, multi-care, multi-service, insurance-driven” operational model, fully safeguarding disabled persons and continuously enhancing livelihood welfare.
Thanks to innovative system models, standardized operations, and quality services, it was recognized as a “2025 Excellent Elderly Care Financial Service Case,” becoming an industry benchmark.
Specifically, “multi-source funding” involves mainly individual contributions, supplemented by medical insurance funds and government subsidies, with a “50+30+20” sharing model—individual accounts contribute 50 yuan annually, medical insurance transfers 30 yuan, and government subsidies cover 20 yuan;
“multi-care” covers a five-dimensional matrix including home-based self-care, on-site home services, nursing at elderly care institutions, medical institution care, and a combination of home-based and on-site care;
“multi-service” offers 40 types of nursing services across three categories, including physical care, daily life care, and medical care.
Severely disabled persons can choose from seven sub-items to form a “service package,” with differentiated payment standards from 450 to 1,620 yuan based on disability level and care method.
Eligible severely disabled persons can also receive three special services: nursing supplies, assisted bathing, and assistive device rentals.
“Insurance-driven industry” has fostered 37 designated agencies and created 500 new jobs, covering medical, elderly care, nursing, and medical device supply chains.
By the end of 2025, the Hanzhong project had received 5,157 applications, evaluated 4,580 in person, provided benefits to 3,890, and paid benefits totaling 69.9666 million yuan.

Image: Hanzhong Long-term Care Insurance Care Center

Using “intelligent” technology systems:
In Hanzhong, China Life deployed a digital management platform—the Smart Long-term Care Information System—achieving “full network connectivity” for long-term care management, managing over 400,000 insured employees’ services with smart, full-chain management, significantly improving efficiency and service capacity, and becoming the core technical support for the long-term care insurance system.
Through online applications, intelligent assessments, and dynamic supervision, data flows more freely, reducing the need for residents to travel, truly making convenience detailed and efficiency practical.

Building a “localized” service system:
Following the principles of “government-led, market participation, advantages complement, and system formation,” China Life led the establishment of the Hanzhong Long-term Care Insurance Service Center, selecting over 30 professional service teams, implementing a “1+11” service network (one service center plus 11 district and county insurance management windows), providing management services through a “one-stop,” “one-window,” and “single form” approach, ensuring quality.
Standardized processes and unified standards mean that insured persons only need about 15 working days from application to assessment approval, and about 10 days from approval to service, greatly reducing waiting times, allowing families of disabled persons to benefit and feel reassured early.

Image: Hanzhong Long-term Care Insurance Service Center

Strictly implementing a “standardized” supervision system:
Strengthening supervision of designated service agencies, urging them to improve nursing staff training, and enhancing service quality.
Regular re-evaluation of disability levels is conducted with fairness, justice, and transparency, achieving a 100% re-evaluation rate, effectively ensuring accurate fund distribution and safe operation.

The practice in Hanzhong reflects China Life’s solid style of implementing policies at the grassroots level, from innovative models to digital empowerment, from system construction to strict supervision.
Every step demonstrates the financial central enterprise’s responsibility and commitment to serving national strategies and responding to public expectations.
The “Hanzhong Model” will provide valuable experience for the promotion of long-term care insurance across Shaanxi Province and even nationwide.

Future Outlook: Writing a New Chapter of High-Quality Development of Long-term Care Insurance

The comprehensive establishment and high-quality development of the long-term care insurance system require consensus and coordinated efforts from the government, market, and society.
China Life will focus on deepening efforts in three areas:

Promoting more refined and intelligent management services:
Leveraging its resources, China Life will upgrade the entire process of management services with digital transformation, optimizing key links such as enrollment assessment, benefit claims, service settlement, process monitoring, and institutional management, continuously improving quality and efficiency.
Accelerating the building of a professional, efficient management team, strengthening their skills and execution, to help establish a stable, sustainable, and high-performing management system.

Building a more coordinated and diversified protection framework:
The full implementation of long-term care insurance marks a new stage for this “sixth insurance” in social security.
System expansion provides policy support for opening new markets and further releasing care demands.
China Life will actively participate, leveraging policy opportunities to contribute to the high-quality implementation of basic long-term care insurance and explore the development of commercial long-term care insurance.

Fostering a more standardized and vibrant care service market:
Strengthening cooperation with relevant agencies, accelerating the layout of elderly care ecosystems, integrating quality care resources, and supporting steady growth in service supply.
Supporting the expansion, optimization, and professionalization of the care workforce, and improving service quality.
Jointly cultivating a care market characterized by diverse supply, orderly competition, reliable quality, and vitality.

“Respecting the elderly at home and caring for others’ elders—long-term care insurance not only covers a bed, a meal, or a wash, but also upholds the dignity of life. From pioneering exploration to full system establishment, long-term care insurance is turning the vision of ‘aging with dignity’ into reality, redefining the societal standard of civilization,” China Life stated.
Standing at a new starting point for comprehensive system rollout, the company will always keep in mind the “big picture of the nation,” uphold the political and people-centered nature of financial work, and with stronger使命感, more practical measures, and better services, fully integrate into the national long-term care insurance system construction, making new and greater contributions to improving the social security system and advancing Chinese modernization.