(Economic Observation) Nuggets "Silver Economy" Chinese insurance companies accelerate the layout of health care industry
China News Agency, Beijing, July 15 (Reporter Wang Enbo) "Live comfortably, eat comfortably, and rest assured for children." Yu Weimei, a nearly 90-year-old veteran of the Anti-U.S. Aid Korea, described her current life in this way.
Living in the retirement community of "China Life Jiayuan·Tianjin Happy Land" located in Tianjin Airport Economic Zone, she can not only taste the taste of hometown in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, participate in rich cultural and entertainment activities with other elderly people, but also enjoy the perfection of the community and surrounding tertiary hospitals Health and medical services.
To spend their old age in this way is becoming a new choice for some Chinese people.
The business opportunities that this brings have also attracted the attention of all kinds of capital.
As China's aging population continues to deepen, the demand for elderly care services has gradually blown out.
The outline of the "14th Five-Year Plan" proposes to build an old-age care service system that is coordinated with home-based community institutions and combines medical care, health and wellness.
In this context, the health care industry has attracted attention from all sides, especially the insurance industry regards it as a battleground for military strategists.
Up to now, China's leading insurance companies have invested huge sums of money to enter the health care industry.
Taking China Life as an example to build the "National Life Jiayuan·Tianjin Happy Land" elderly care community, its group chairman Wang Bin introduced that the project covers an area of 74,000 square meters and can accommodate more than 1,000 elderly people at the same time. It is characterized by the combination of nutrition and the ability to provide professional and continuous long-term care.
At present, China Life's health and elderly care industry layout has covered Beijing, Suzhou, Sanya, Boao, Chengdu, Shenzhen and other cities.
According to Cao Deyun, executive vice president and secretary general of the China Insurance Asset Management Association, previously disclosed that 10 insurance institutions have invested in 47 retirement community projects, with more than 84,000 beds.
The total amount of private equity investment funds in the upstream and downstream medical and health industries of the pension and pension industry through direct equity and indirect equity investment has reached the level of 100 billion yuan.
The huge potential contained in the "Silver Economy" and related supply gaps have allowed insurers to see opportunities.
The results of the seventh national census showed that the population of China aged 60 and over was 264.02 million, accounting for 18.70%.
The further deepening of population aging is believed to stimulate the rapid growth of demand for professional elderly care services.
For example, a report issued by the China Association of Aging states that currently more than 180 million elderly people in China suffer from chronic diseases, and there are approximately 15.07 million elderly people with dementia aged 60 and over. The demand for care services for the elderly with dementia is showing a rapid growth trend. .
In addition, with the increasing health awareness of Chinese residents and the increase in the number of high-net-worth groups, the old-age care model with integrated medical care and the development potential of high-quality elderly care communities is also optimistic by the market.
The natural advantages of the integration and development of the insurance industry with the general health and pension industries have allowed insurance companies to recognize this opportunity.
Wang Yifeng, chief analyst of the financial industry of Everbright Securities, analyzed that the core of the pension community lies in "follow-up operations and continuous care services." Its main profit comes from long-term rental income and asset appreciation. The cash flow rate is slow, and it needs to be stable and stable in the development and operation stage. Long-term, low-cost, large-scale financial support.
The large amount of long-term funds for insurance companies need to find investment directions with stable returns, and the two match exactly.
In addition, the development of the two industries also has a certain degree of synergy.
From a large asset-heavy pension community, to asset-light pension services, to pension-related insurance products such as long-term care insurance and health and medical insurance, the entire industry chain layout of insurance institutions in the pension field will help build the third pillar of pension funds. Further extend the industrial format to improve the quality and level of comprehensive services for the elderly.
However, industry insiders have also reminded that despite the huge demand for elderly care services, the development of health care and other industries is still in its infancy, and the development and profit model is still in the trial and error stage, which requires policy support and effective guidance from the government and regulatory authorities.
It is worth noting that relevant policies have been introduced one after another.
Among them, a series of documents issued at the national level mainly focus on top-level design, focusing on advancing home and community elderly care services, promoting the integration of medical and nursing care, and accelerating the construction and reform of multi-level and diversified elderly care institutions focusing on public and private enterprises; at the local level , Many places have supported the development of the elderly care industry through financial assistance, place guarantees, tax reductions and exemptions, and financial subsidies.
"Supporting the construction of a multi-level medical security system and strengthening the commercial pension system is a general consensus in the insurance industry." Zhou Yanli, the former vice chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, believes that aging poses serious challenges to the industry, but it brings more opportunities.
The insurance industry should further tap the potential of the "blue ocean" market for health and wellness, and build an ecological model of health and wellness with insurance as the core.
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