Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 2nd, title: Why are the elderly care institutions "off the road" frequently when hundreds of thousands of yuan are taken away?
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters Zhang Chao, Bai Tiantian, Tai Sicong
Staying in senior care institutions has become an important way of senior care.
According to data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there are 42,300 old-age care institutions nationwide, with 4.291 million beds and 2.146 million elderly people.
However, service disputes involving elderly care institutions have gradually increased recently.
"Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters investigated in Beijing, Changsha, Nanchang and other places and found that in many places, elderly care institutions "ran off" incidents, and some elderly people's retirement money of hundreds of thousands of yuan was taken away.
Frequent “runs” in pension institutions
In August 2020, some elderly people in Changsha City, Hunan Province reported that they had signed an "Elderly Service Contract" with Anyi Senior Apartment, but Xiong Moumou, the owner of this senior apartment suddenly "ran off."
It is understood that these elderly people paid tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of "membership fees" in the early stage. The original promise was that they could book elderly care services and receive dividends.
The reporter recently visited an easy apartment for the elderly located on Fubuhe Road in Changsha City.
After the boss "ran off", this elderly apartment was maintained by the 7 staff left behind, and the two-story building seemed very deserted.
Ms. Liu, the person in charge of the Anyi Senior Apartment Office, told reporters that the apartment originally had 110 beds, but now there are only more than 30 elderly people.
The monthly expenses of the elderly are about 90,000 yuan, and the pension service fees collected can barely cover the cost, and sometimes they have to default on the rent of the house.
Ms. Liu said that sometimes she would receive five or six calls in the morning, all of which were from elderly people asking about the follow-up process.
According to reports from the elderly, at least hundreds of people have paid in advance, ranging from tens of thousands of yuan to more than 300,000 yuan.
In addition, the employees still have more than 50,000 yuan in wages that have not been paid, and they also hope that the problem will be resolved as soon as possible, so that the retirement apartment will be back on track.
In Nanchang, Jiangxi, a well-known elderly care institution Zhonghuaqing Senior Apartment, which has been in operation for 13 years, also happened in April 2020.
The new branch of the Nanchang Public Security Bureau issued a notice on April 17 that Zhang Guoxing, the legal representative of the elderly apartment, was suspected of illegally absorbing public deposits and was filed for investigation.
At present, the police has set up a task force to carry out investigations, and the elderly care institutions have been taken over by the local government.
Once the old-age care institution “runs off” or declares bankruptcy, it is difficult for the elderly to recover the deposit and service fees.
In 2017, Shangbai Yiyi Nursing Care Service (Beijing) Co., Ltd. of Tongzhou in Beijing said that it was not doing well and forced the elderly to leave.
"We sued the company for breach of contract, and the court also ruled that we won, and the defendant company has not appealed. But the old man has not received the 300,000 yuan deposit and service fee charged by the defendant company, nor can he contact the defendant company. The old man has applied to the court for compulsion Execution." said Li Ping, a lawyer from Beijing Zhongyou Law Firm, the attorney for an elderly person who filed a lawsuit against Shangbai Yiyi.
The reporter inquired on the Xinhua Credit platform and found that Shangbai Yiyi Nursing Care Service (Beijing) Co., Ltd. had its business license revoked by the Beijing Tongzhou District Market Supervision Administration in the month of the court’s first instance judgment.
"Sell Card" pre-sale model is risky
Why are the old institutions frequently "off the road" and the operators are frequently suspected of illegally absorbing public deposits?
Many industry insiders told reporters that pension institutions filed by the civil affairs department generally charge monthly fees, and the maximum cannot exceed one year.
However, new business formats such as pension real estate, pension finance, and residential pension usually adopt the pre-sale model of "selling cards", which leaves an opportunity for operators to "run away".
Due to the relatively large investment in fixed assets of pension institutions and the relatively long return period, many pension institutions have a tight capital chain.
To this end, some elderly care institutions sell membership cards, discount cards, etc., to allow the elderly to deposit a certain amount to obtain priority check-in and discount qualifications; individual institutions will also promise to use a certain percentage of the pre-deposited amount if they cannot stay. Return the principal and high interest.
"Asset-heavy civilian nutrition institutions have a large demand for funds. Due to the impact of the epidemic in 2020, many elderly care institutions have fewer new customers and increased operating pressure." Deputy General Manager of Hunan Kanglenian Pension Industry Group, Hunan Provincial Society Long Pan, deputy secretary-general of the Welfare and Elderly Industry Association, said that those elderly care institutions that rely on fund-raising and charge high deposits or membership fees bear the brunt, leading to frequent "runaway" incidents.
Encouraged by national policies, the pension industry has developed rapidly in recent years, and various capitals are competing to enter.
"The motivation of some operators with ulterior motives to enter the elderly care industry is to collect money, rather than really want to engage in elderly care services." Long Pan said.
Reporters have seen from the websites of civil affairs bureaus in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, Yueyang, Hunan and other places that local departments have produced special web pages for pension absorption “routines” to strengthen risk warnings.
Implement fund depository and explore the whitelist system
With the gradual increase in service disputes in elderly care institutions, many places are exploring more stringent supervision methods.
"Since 2019, the administrative authorities have strengthened their crackdown on illegal fund-raising in the elderly care sector, and a number of problematic companies have been gradually cleared out of the market." Long Pan said, suggesting that the civil affairs department should refine and standardize the fees charged by elderly care institutions.
Supervision should be strengthened for elderly care institutions that lack repayment guarantees. For those elderly care institutions with large investments but with assets and strength, they should be allowed to explore membership-based charging methods and regulate the collection and use of fees.
The Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau and other departments issued the "Beijing Municipality’s Measures for the Supervision of Elderly Care Service Institutions (for Trial Implementation)" in November 2018, which specified specific regulations on the membership system for the elderly, stipulating that excluding elderly care service institutions run by self-built or self-owned facilities , Membership system is strictly prohibited.
For companies that are allowed to implement membership-based fees, the regulatory measures require that the amount of membership-based fees in principle cannot exceed the valuation of the operators’ collateral, and they must not invest in risky industries.
The "Opinions on Promoting the Development of Elderly Care Services" issued by the General Office of the State Council in April 2019 stipulates that in order to make up for the lack of funds for facility construction, elder care institutions shall sell prepaid membership cards and other forms of marketing, in accordance with the principle of inclusive and prudent supervision. Restrictive conditions, adopt third-party depository methods of commercial banks to ensure the safety of fund management and use.
Experts said that pension institutions have no incentive to take the initiative to go to commercial banks for third-party depository, and they look forward to further detailed rules that compulsorily entrust third-party depository if they exceed a certain prepayment limit.
It is understood that the civil affairs departments in some places will announce the "white list" of elderly service institutions.
The Changsha Civil Affairs Bureau will update the data of the elderly care institutions that have obtained the approval or filing of the elderly care institutions every quarter, and publish it on the official website and WeChat public account to remind the elderly to stay away from illegal fundraising and not to be deceived.
Relevant personnel from the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau stated that some new types of elderly care real estate, residential elderly care and other new businesses have not been registered with the civil affairs department to carry out elderly care services. Instead, they have chosen to register in the industrial and commercial department as a service company, "taking advantage of the loopholes" to evade supervision. It can only be discovered when there are contract disputes and other reasons; it is recommended that multiple departments share data for joint supervision.
"The elderly should strengthen consumer education,'keep their eyes open' to improve their ability to discern, understand the strengths of elderly care institutions in many ways, and do not pursue concessions and spend large advance payments." Li Ping said.