Opinions on promoting the construction of a basic elderly care service system

Q: Please brief us on the background and significance of the Opinions on Promoting the Construction of the Basic Elderly Care Service System issued by the General Offices of the CPC Central Committee and The State Council.

A: The Party Central Committee and The State Council attach great importance to basic elderly care services.  Premier Li Qiang pointed out that it is necessary to implement the national strategy to actively cope with the aging population and strengthen the security of elderly care services. It is necessary to establish a positive outlook on aging, do a good job in hierarchical and classified elderly care services, so that the elderly and disabled elderly have some support, and the young and healthy elderly have something to do. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee made major decisions and deployments on improving the basic elderly care service system. The 20th National Congress of the CPC proposed to promote the realization of basic old-age care services for all elderly people. The "Opinions on Strengthening the Work of Aging in the New Era" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and The State Council proposed to "establish a basic elderly care service list system." In accordance with the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee and The State Council, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, together with relevant departments, studied and drafted and submitted to the Central Office and the State Office for issuance of the Opinions on Promoting the Construction of the Basic Elderly Care Service System.

Basic elderly care services refer to the basic, inclusive and backstop services provided directly by the state or guided by certain means by relevant subjects to provide the elderly with basic, inclusive and backstop services necessary to realize the elderly have their own care and support. Promoting the construction of the basic old-age service system is an institutional measure to promote the high-quality development of old-age service. It is the key link to construct the supply pattern of government, society, market and family to fulfill their responsibilities in an orderly and coordinated manner. It is a basic institutional arrangement for ensuring basic people's livelihood, promoting social equity and maintaining social stability, and embodies the fundamental purpose of our Party to serve the people wholeheartedly. By the end of 2022, there will be more than 280 million elderly people aged 60 or above, accounting for 19.8 percent of the total population, of which 210 million elderly people aged 65 or above, accounting for 14.9 percent of the total population. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the improvement of the system of elderly care services has been accelerated, and the fairness and accessibility of basic elderly care services have been continuously improved. By the end of 2022, the Old age allowance, old-age service subsidy, nursing subsidy and comprehensive subsidy for the elderly benefited 33.302 million, 5.461 million, 971,000 and 672,000 elderly people respectively. A total of 13.95 million elderly people across the country are covered by minimum living allowances, and 3.68 million elderly people in extreme poverty are covered by assistance and support, so that they should be fully supported. There are 381,000 institutions and facilities for the elderly, including 40,000 institutions for the elderly, 341,000 community institutions and facilities for the elderly, and 8,223,000 beds. All these laid a solid foundation for the construction of a basic elderly care service system. At the same time, basic elderly care services are still the shortcomings of the new era of elderly care services, the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development is still prominent, and there is still a certain gap with the deployment requirements of the Party Central Committee and The State Council and the expectations of the people, its basic concept and service objects, content, standards need to be further clarified, and the responsibilities and tasks of various departments need to be further refined. In the central document, the "Opinions" for the first time determined the connotation and main tasks of promoting the basic elderly care service system, clarified the responsibilities and positioning of the government, society, market and family in the basic elderly care service, clarified the main contents of basic elderly care service including material help, care service and care service, and highlighted the security of life and long-term care service for the elderly. The key questions of "whom to serve", "what to serve" and "how to serve" are answered.

The "Opinions" make important basic institutional arrangements for promoting the construction of the basic pension service system, realizing the elderly have access to support and support, reflecting the great importance attached by the Party Central Committee and The State Council to the work of pension services, and is an important milestone in the history of the development of pension services in China. It is to promote the solution of the elderly's problems in pension services, including the bottom, the bottom, the bottom, and the bottom. Continuously enhance the sense of gain, happiness and security of the elderly, and realize the important system design of elderly care.