Aging society hits the one-child generation
The only child generation is entering middle age.
The "421" inverted pyramid family structure and the parents who are gradually entering retirement age put them under heavy pressure on the elderly.
This year, during the National Congress and the People's Republic of China, the issue of pensions for families with only one child aroused heated discussions among representatives and committee members.
"The generation of parents with only one child has made significant contributions to the country's population strategy and economic and social development." Kong Falong, deputy to the National People's Congress, party secretary and chairman of the Jiangxi Rural Credit Cooperative Association, said that the family planning policy has played a major role in controlling the rapid growth of our country’s population. It plays an important role in improving people's health and promoting economic and social development.
Nowadays, the parents of these only children are gradually entering old age. The burden of the elderly for this large group is increasing. Many families are facing greater economic pressure, psychological pressure, physical pressure, and serious shortage of high-quality elderly care supplies. , Must arouse attention and attention.
“For families with only one child, this is indeed a very real problem.” Ding Mei, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and deputy district governor of Hedong District, Tianjin, has been paying attention to the issue of elderly care for many years. “The most difficult time for them is when their parents are sick. When someone needs to take care of it."
Because her 70-year-old father had a cerebral infarction, He Yan felt exhausted in the past year.
She is 39 years old and has two children.
Because of her outstanding performance at work, she was quickly promoted to one of the main persons in charge of the unit, and her lover was also transferred to another place due to work.
During the rescue of her father’s acute cerebral infarction, He Yan had been on leave for several days and nights in the hospital. During that time, she lost her hair a lot.
He Yan's experience is not alone.
Our country faces the challenge of declining birthrate and aging population.
On March 8, Hu Zucai, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, stated at a press conference of the State Council Information Office that China will enter a moderate aging stage during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. By 2022, the proportion of people over 60 years old in China will exceed 20%. The elderly population over 80 years old is increasing at a rate of over 1 million per year. At the same time, the right-age population has low willingness to give birth. At present, China's total fertility rate has fallen below the warning line, with an average household population of less than 3 people.
In this regard, Kong Falong suggested that the government should increase policy inclination.
He suggested that the group of parents with only one child should be filed informatized, combined with the heterogeneous needs of different families, special measures should be formulated, professional forces should be arranged, special facilities should be improved, and high-quality home, community and institutional senior care services and humanities should be provided in a targeted manner. care.
"Relaxing household registration and other policy restrictions" is also one of his suggestions, that is, for retired only-child parents who live and work in a different place, they are allowed to settle in their children's work and life, and enjoy the same benefits as local residents in terms of social security and medical insurance. treatment.
Taking into account the difficulty of the only child accompanying their parents, he also suggested that a system such as one-child care leave should be fully implemented to improve the more inclusive old-age living allowances, disability living allowances, living allowances for widows and bereaved children, and elderly care services for only-child parents. Subsidies and other systems, and adjust the subsidy rate every year.
In response to the special situation of accidental risks such as loss of children and disability in only-child families, he suggested that financial contributions should take the lead in setting up a special fund for the old-age care of only-child families to provide protection.
Ding Mei noted that in the "14th Five-Year Plan" draft measures to improve elderly care services, it is mentioned that inclusive elderly care services should be vigorously developed, supporting families to undertake the elderly care functions, and establishing coordination between homes and community institutions, as well as medical care and health care. She believes that "this is the actual demand and general trend of economic and social development."
When referring to "promoting the ageing transformation of public facilities, and promoting the extension of professional institution services to the community", the "14th Five-Year Plan" draft suggested that the integrated use of existing resources to develop embedded elderly care in the community.
"Embedded elderly care" means home and community elderly care.
After years of in-depth research at the grassroots level, Ding Mei found that the current community elderly care has problems such as imperfect service system, low level of informatization, weak infrastructure, and insufficient service team capabilities, which cannot fully meet the needs of the elderly.
She suggested that the "visible hand" of the government should be linked with the "invisible hand" of the market.
First, it is necessary to change the government’s traditional thinking of “providing care for the elderly” and take a market-oriented approach to realize the transition from “basic elderly care” to “quality elderly care”. At the same time, it is necessary to change the pattern of the civil affairs department’s leading elderly care services and include the old services The performance appraisal system of party committees and governments at all levels has formed a linkage work pattern of "horizontal to the side and vertical to the end".
In addition, she suggested that the barriers to data sharing should be broken down, and the civil affairs department should take the lead to establish a comprehensive management service platform for regional home and community elderly care to accurately meet service needs.
Promote the construction of embedded elderly care institutions through high standards, shorten the radius of home elderly care services, improve the strength and level of elderly care services, and truly open up the "last mile" of elderly care services.
Ding Mei said, "To let the elderly spend their old age with quality and dignity, we must do a good job in the elderly in the community."
China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily reporter Hu Chunyan Source: China Youth Daily