【明報專訊】The curtains have been brought down on the National People's Congress with the election of new State Council members. Revitalising the economy after the pandemic is a heavy burden, but certain essential and fundamental services must not be sacrificed. The Government Work Report lists eight major tasks for this year, but only one sentence is dedicated to elderly care services: improve elderly care services.
China is now an ageing society. People born in the 1960s will usher in the second peak of population ageing in the next 10 years. However, the current elderly care services are still of extremely poor quality, which is disproportionate to China's achievements in economic development. If the situation does not improve as soon as possible, the country will certainly be unable to deal with the increasingly serious problem of an ageing society.
In Chinese traditional customs, it is the predominant trend to spend retirement at home. According to data from the National Health Commission, 90% of the elderly live at home, 7% rely on community support, and only 3% live in elderly care homes. The proportion of elderly people living in facilities is low because most of them do not want to live in care homes. Still, a considerable number of elderly people have needs for them. Cities across the country have not paid enough attention to this. Not enough funds are allocated, and not enough beds are provided for those elderly people who need them. Even more ridiculous is the utilisation rate of existing beds for the elderly, which is lower than 70%. The reason is that the threshold for admission is too high, and not enough effort has been devoted to finding elderly people in need. These are an indictment of the government's dereliction of duty.
Without specific requirements of a set of national laws, local governments are not shouldering the responsibility on their own. Disabled or even incapacitated senior elderly people need to live in care homes, even if they are living with their families at home. If they live alone, depriving them of elderly care services at facilities is no different than making them commit a "slow suicide". This problem was even more prominent during the pandemic when some cities were under lockdowns. Here, the government must fulfil the residual responsibility earnestly.
Supporting elderly care services requires government funds. Meanwhile, the monthly pension insurance debits to the elderly rely on the National Social Security Fund. Working individuals and the organisations they work under contribute to 73% of the Fund's income. To relieve the burden on businesses, the government has reduced the 20% corporate contribution rate to 16%. For sure, the proportion of government funding rises in turn. At a time when the economy is yearning for recovery after the pandemic, the government does not have a light load.
These difficulties are not easy to solve. However, the elderly deserve benefits and a decent later life given that they have toiled away for most of their lives and made contributions to society.
At the National People's Congress that has just concluded, the Shanghai delegation proposed a National Elderly Care Services Law and submitted a draft bill for review. There have not been many examples of local governments drafting national laws and tabling them to the National People's Congress. Hopefully, this will be a good start. This is because local governments can better sum up practical opinions and suggestions after doing the practical work. It is hoped that the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress will deliberate on the draft as soon as possible, and consult other local governments and relevant voluntary groups, before adopting this law that will help give elderly people a secure life as early as can be.
明報社評2023.03.13：老有所養須立法保障 政府為兜底服務負責
全國人大會議落幕，選出新一屆國務院班子，疫後振興經濟擔子很重，但一些必需的基本服務不能顧此失彼，政府工作報告列舉今年八大任務，有關養老服務只提到一句：加強養老服務保障。
中國已經進入老齡化社會，上世紀60年代出生的人口，將會在未來10年成為老齡化的第二次高峰，而養老服務質量目前仍然處於極低水平，與中國經濟發展成就不相稱，若不盡快改善，肯定不能應對愈益嚴重的老齡化社會問題。
按照中國文化風俗傳統，居家養老是主流，國家衛健委的數據顯示，九成老人居家養老，7%依託社區支持養老，只有3%老人入住養老院。機構養老的比例低，原因是大部分老人不願入住養老院，但有相當一部分的老人對養老院是有需求的，而全國各城市對此重視不足，撥款不夠，未能提供足夠牀位供有需要的老人，更荒謬的地方是，現有養老牀位使用率不足70%，原因是入住門檻過高，以及沒有盡力找到有需要的老人，都是政府失職的表現。
缺乏一部全國性法律就此作具體要求，各地政府是不會主動承擔責任的。那些高齡且殘疾，甚至是失能的老人，即使與家人同住，也有入住養老院的需要，如果是獨居，沒有機構養老服務，無疑是讓他們「慢性自殺」。在疫情期間，有些城市遭遇封控，這個問題更形突出，這部分的兜底責任，必須要由政府切實履行責任。
養老服務需要政府經費支撐，而養老保險每月給老年人的費用，則是依靠全國社會保障基金，這個基金的收入73%來自在職人士個人及單位供款，而為了減輕企業負擔，政府降低了單位供款比例，由20%降到16%，政府的撥款比例必須增加，在疫情後經濟有待振興的時候，政府的壓力不輕。
雖然各種困難都不容易解決，但老年人經過大半輩子奔波勞碌，為社會作出過貢獻，他們應該獲得應有的福利待遇，過一個有體面的晚年。
剛結束的全國人大會議，上海代表團提交《全國養老服務法》提案，並附上草案等待審議，由地方政府草擬全國性法律提交全國人大審議的例子不多，希望這能開一個好頭，因為地方政府經過實踐，更能夠總結各種符合實際的意見和建議，希望全國人大常委會盡快審議，諮詢其他地方政府和相關志願團體的意見，早日通過這部關係老年人安享晚年的法律。
■ Glossary 生字 /
disproportionate : too large or too small when compared with sth else
indictment : a very clear sign that a system, method etc. is very bad or very wrong
toil away : to work very hard and/or for a long time, usually doing hard physical work