(Yicai) March 6 -- China's government has again emphasized the need to hasten the creation of a long-term care insurance system for the elderly and disabled in its annual work report, marking the fifth year in a row that this issue has been highlighted.

With the pilot program for long-term care insurance having started in 2016, it is now time to establish a comprehensive and effective system, Bao Hongjian, president of the Asia Research Institute for Elderly Care Finance and Industry, told Yicai.

The pilot program aims to protect people with severe and long-term disabilities, focusing on ensuring care for basic daily care and medical needs, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. It aims to expand to more cities and integrate with China's existing healthcare and social security framework to address the challenges of an aging population.

The number of senior citizens who are disabled or partially disabled is predicted to rise to almost 73 million this year, according to the findings of the fourth survey on the living conditions of urban and rural elderly people.

As this is the final year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, a long-term program may be fully implemented across the country, Sun Jie, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a professor at Beijing's University of International Business and Economics, said in an interview with local media.

Fan Weidong, a department director at the National Healthcare Security Administration, said in January that China has more than 2.6 million disabled people receiving long-term care benefits, costing more than CNY80 billion (USD11 billion). The program created about 300,000 jobs and generated social capital investment of around CNY60 billion in related industries.

Compared with the growing ranks of the disabled elderly, the pilot program’s coverage is very limited, with many areas falling outside of its scope, noted Zhou Yanfang, deputy to the National People's Congress and research director at China Pacific Insurance Group. Moreover, residents in rural areas, which have a higher share of disabled people than urban areas, are covered in just a few regions.

Zhou pointed out that there is a significant shortage of caregivers, creating a substantial gap in the supply and demand of long-term care. As both the civil affairs and healthcare security departments manage service provision, their regulatory roles need to be clearly defined, he said.

Some pilot cities have blurred the line between medical insurance and long-term care insurance, according to Sun. As a standalone product, long-term care insurance should be functionally separate from other insurance categories, he added.

Editor: Emmi Laine