"The sixth insurance" is here. Are you the beneficiary or the payer?

“Long-term care insurance” is here. This is the “sixth coverage” beyond the “five social insurances and one housing fund,” but what it truly brings may not be only an additional benefit—rather, it may be that the costs associated with population aging are starting to shift more explicitly to the present.

On March 25, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council released the “Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment of a Long-term Care Insurance System,” which means the long-term care insurance program, piloted for a full 10 years, has formally entered the stage of full-scale rollout. Under the plan, the system will cover both employed workers nationwide and urban and rural residents within about three years, with a unified benchmark premium rate controlled at around 0.3%.

Supporters believe this is a necessary制度 to address the dilemma of “one person becoming unable to care for themselves throws the whole family off balance.” Critics, however, argue that, in essence, it adds a new mandatory deduction beyond the “five social insurances and one housing fund.” The core of the dispute is really just one question: is it a true form of insurance, or a “quasi-tax” operating under the name of insurance? And this question determines whether it ultimately means more protection or whether the burden is being shifted.

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