Ministry of Finance: Provide subsidies to urban and rural residents enrolled in long-term care insurance in accordance with regulations

Stock trading relies on the analysis reports from Jin Qilin analysts, authoritative, professional, timely, and comprehensive, helping you uncover potential thematic opportunities!

Reporter Han Yu

On March 26, the State Council Information Office held a press conference to introduce the establishment of a long-term care insurance system. Wang Wenjun, Deputy Director of the National Healthcare Security Administration, introduced that long-term care insurance is a new type of social insurance, which collects funds through universal participation to provide basic living care and medical assistance for insured individuals who have lost the ability to perform daily activities, reimbursing the incurred care costs.

Wang Wenjun stated that based on the experience from previous pilot projects, recently, with the approval of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, the General Office of the Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council jointly issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment of a Long-term Care Insurance System” (hereinafter referred to as “Opinions”), which clearly requires the basic establishment of a long-term care insurance system that adapts to China’s basic national conditions within about three years. This marks a significant shift from partial pilot programs to nationwide implementation.

Establishing a long-term care insurance system is a major institutional arrangement to address the urgent needs and concerns of the public and to improve the social security system. For people with disabilities, establishing long-term care insurance is a “basic need”; for families of disabled individuals, long-term care insurance is a “burden reduction”; for the industry, long-term care insurance means “stimulus.”

Wang Wenjun introduced that the establishment of this system has given rise to new industries and models, such as the research, production, and leasing of assistive devices, assessment of disability levels, and participation of social forces in operations, which can create new economic growth points. According to preliminary statistics, since the pilot program began in 2016, long-term care insurance has attracted over 60 billion yuan in social capital investment in related industries.

“The establishment and implementation of the long-term care insurance system is a systematic project and a long-term task that requires the participation of the entire society.” Wang Wenjun stated that to implement the “Opinions,” eight departments including the National Healthcare Security Administration, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the National Health Commission, the State Taxation Administration, and the China Disabled Persons’ Federation have issued supporting implementation plans to guide provinces to further refine implementation paths and specific work arrangements based on local realities.

Guo Yang, Director of the Social Security Department of the Ministry of Finance, stated at the press conference that the Ministry of Finance has taken a series of measures to actively support the establishment and implementation of the long-term care insurance system based on its responsibilities.

First, experience has been accumulated through pilot exploration. The Ministry of Finance cooperated with the National Healthcare Security Administration to guide pilot regions in improving policy design and exploring a financing mechanism with reasonable burden-sharing among all parties. The insured population in the pilot regions started with employees and has been further expanded to residents in regions with conditions. To support the insurance work, pilot regions have developed relevant financial subsidy policies based on their own realities, including subsidies for insured residents and assistance for those facing difficulties, which have accumulated beneficial experiences for formulating national policies.

Second, the government has clarified subsidies for residents’ insurance. Based on the summary of pilot work, the Ministry of Finance cooperated with the National Healthcare Security Administration to strengthen top-level design and promote the construction of a nationally unified long-term care insurance system. The “Opinions” and the implementation plans from the eight departments clearly state that a diversified financing channel involving employers, individuals, the government, and society should be established and improved. For insured urban and rural residents, the government provides subsidies as prescribed. On this basis, the government also offers classified support for difficult groups such as those in extreme poverty and low-income households.

Guo Yang stated that these subsidy funds are jointly borne by the central and local finances, and corresponding arrangements have been made in the central government’s transfer payment budget to localities for 2026. Considering that the work of resident insurance will be gradually rolled out in various places, this year’s central financial subsidies to localities will be pre-allocated based on the expected number of insured individuals in each locality, and the actual number of insured individuals will be settled in the following year to ensure that subsidy funds are fully allocated. In the future, as the number of insured individuals increases, the financial subsidy intensity will continue to increase.

Third, the management and supervision of funds will be strengthened. The “Opinions” and the implementation plans from the eight departments clearly stipulate that the long-term care insurance fund, like other social insurance funds, must be managed separately, with dedicated accounts and designated uses, and the long-term care insurance fund must be included in the budget preparation scope of social insurance funds, requiring scientific preparation of fund income and expenditure budgets and strengthening budget performance management. Currently, the Ministry of Finance is researching and formulating financial management methods for the long-term care insurance fund and management methods for financial subsidy funds in conjunction with relevant departments, which will further strengthen fund financial budget management and clarify the specific processes and supervisory requirements for the distribution, allocation, and use of financial subsidy funds, ensuring that work responsibilities at all levels are enforced and providing institutional safeguards for the safe, standardized, and efficient use of funds.

“Next, the Ministry of Finance will seriously implement the decisions and deployments of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, guide local financial departments to timely and sufficiently arrange financial subsidy funds, strengthen financial supervision, and promote the smooth implementation of the long-term care insurance system, so that policy dividends can effectively and efficiently benefit every eligible insured individual and effectively reduce the burden of family care for disabled individuals,” Guo Yang said.

		Sina Statement: This news is reprinted from Sina’s cooperative media, and Sina.com publishes this article to convey more information, which does not mean endorsement of its views or confirmation of its descriptions. The content of the article is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice. Investors operate at their own risk based on this.

		
		
		
		

		
		
		

	Access a wealth of information and precise interpretations, all in the Sina Finance APP

责任编辑：高佳