Trials underway

Li, the ministry spokesman, said the country's top decision-makers have recognized the challenge, and last year began considering the introduction of long-term care insurance nationwide. Trials are underway in selected regions, including Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, Shanghai, and Beijing.

In the Haidian district of Beijing, a trial program is open to all locals ages 18 and older. The premium rises with age, but for people ages 18 to 39, the monthly payment is 114 yuan, 20 percent of which is paid by the local government.

After 15 years of payments, disabled seniors are eligible for care worth 900 to 1,900 yuan a month.

Meanwhile, the government of Beijing's Fengtai district has been trialing the use of a government-funded program to purchase services for disabled elderly people who live at home.

Wu Dongning, head of Lehu, a company that supplies nursing services for the program, said nurses are sent to help with things such as post-stroke rehabilitation, injections and catheterization, and suggested the insurance should cover items such as these.

Sun Jie, deputy director of the School of Insurance and Economics at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said the types and levels of long-term care services should be studied and defined at State level to facilitate the policy nationwide.

The approach was pioneered in the 1960s in countries with rapidly aging populations, such as Germany, Japan and the Netherlands, and has proved effective in addressing the long-term care demands of disabled seniors, she said.

Hu Anqi contributed to this story.