Favorable policies support eldercare

An eldercare official said on Friday that local authorities are rolling out favorable taxation and finance policies aimed at pulling long-term care facilities through a revenue crisis triggered by the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Li Banghua, deputy head of the eldercare department under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, predicted a turn for the better as new infections have slowed significantly in China, allowing for eldercare providers to take in new clients and provide home-based services, the major revenue sources for private facilities.

At the height of the novel coronavirus outbreak, eldercare institutions nationwide were sealed off to new arrivals and family visits in an attempt to prevent COVID-19 spreading among its most vulnerable targets.

Seniors who had left for Lunar New Year family reunions in late January had been stranded at home due to widespread travel restrictions, which also contributed to the decline.

Li said at a news conference in Beijing that a recent survey showed nursing homes have lost some 20 percent in revenues year-on-year due to the changes.

Meanwhile, spending increased up to 30 percent due to paying nurses for overtime, and buying disinfectants and other essential supplies.

"The spending rise and revenue shortfall have together caused serious financial problems for eldercare facilities, especially private ones," he said.

In 2018, authorities switched to a registration system instead of an approval process for potential operators in the eldercare sector. That was aimed at encouraging private players to replenish the service shortfall exacerbated by the rapidly aging population.

China had 249 million people aged 60 or older at the end of last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The China National Committee on Aging projects the number will reach 300 million by 2025, and peak at 487 million in 2053, when around one in three people in China will be over 60.

That has dwarfed the number of beds at nursing homes and other eldercare institutions, despite rapid progress.

Ministry spokesman Jia Weizhou said China currently has some 200,000 such facilities, with about 7.6 million beds.

To ease the financial pain, especially for private facilities without direct government funding, Li said the ministry has worked with other departments to make them eligible for a wide range of favorable policies including in taxation and financing.

In addition, local authorities have handed out subsidies at the behest of the ministry, and introduced rent cuts, among other incentives.

The financial pressure is expected to ease soon as nursing homes in regions less at risk of the coronavirus have been allowed to take in new clients, he said.

Since early March, the ministry has ordered eldercare facilities to practice epidemic control based on local risk levels, in an effort to loosen the restrictions on facilities in low-risk regions.

Early this month, the ministry allowed nursing homes in low-risk regions to accept local clients and employees without going through a two-week quarantine period.