Understanding China's Long-term Care Insurance Pilots: Key Features, Challenges and Prospects

In 2016, China launched its public long-term care insurance (LTCI) pilots in 15 cities, which have recently been expanded to more areas across the country, signalling a policy move towards a public social insurance model of long-term care financing. This article provides a timely review and assessment of these LTCI pilots. It begins with an overview of the overarching policy guidelines from the central government, followed by a description of local designs and key LTCI policy features by highlighting the similarities and differences across all pilot cities. It also discusses the strengths and limitations, implementation challenges and future prospects of these LTCI pilots.