New subsidy measures for seniors' care programs to be implemented in Oct

The new "Subsidy Measures for Seniors' Care Programs in Wuxi" will be implemented from Oct 1, according to the Wuxi municipal people's government. The social forces that provide caring service for the elderly will be able to obtain financial support from the government.

According to the revised the measures, social forces can obtain construction subsidies for setting up rest homes. A newly-built non-profit rest home with its own property right, more than 50 beds and a floor area of more than 30 square meters per bed could be provided with a lump sum of no less than 10,000 yuan ($1464) per bed as its construction subsidy. A lump sum of no less than 5,000 yuan per bed will be provided to the rental non-profit rest home of the same scale. A newly-built for-profit rest home with its own property right, more than 50 beds and a floor area of more than 30 square meters per bed will receive a lump sum of no less than 5,000 yuan as construction subsidy; while a lump sum of no less than 2,500 yuan per bed will be rendered to the rental for-profit home or to the for-profit home that is reconstructed or extended based on an already existing rest home to reach the scaling standard.

Besides construction subsidies, Wuxi will also provide operating subsidies to rest homes set up by the social forces. For a private non-profit rest home with more 50 beds, Wuxi government will provide it with a monthly subsidy based on the number of local hukou holders accommodated in it for more than three months, and on the rating of the rest home given by the government. The benchmark grade is 3A. At this level, the monthly operating subsidies for self-care, half-care and full-care respectively reach 60 yuan, 160 yuan, and 240 yuan per person, higher than the former standards for half-care and full-care, which were 120 yuan and 180 yuan. For those rated 2A or 1A, the subsidies will be 10 percent or 20 percent lower compared to the subsidies for 3A rest homes; while 4A and 5A rest homes will receive 1.1 or 1.2 times as many subsidies as 3A rest homes.

According to the statistics, more than 90 percent of elderly people in Wuxi will spend their twilight years at home. The newly-launched subsidy policy also allows home-based care institutions to obtain a lump sum of construction subsidy ranging from 50,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan according to different construction standards, and annual operating subsidies of 12,000 yuan and 30,000 yuan respectively from the municipal and district government. For a regional specialized canteen for the elderly which has met the construction standards, operated normatively and served 50 people or more on a daily basis, the government will provide it with an annual operating subsidy of 50,000 yuan.

In addition, the measures also set clear provisions for smart caring for the old, wage subsidy and employment awards for caregivers, subsidies for rest home chains, insurance subsidies for rest homes and subsidies for medical institutions in rest homes.