China's burgeoning pension market, which has yet to undergo massive development, is currently facing problems over hitches in merging it with the Chinese medical system, as well as thinning government pension funds. Such looms amid the country's increasingly aging society.
The issue was raised during a forum by the Global Times and Life Times. The forum noted that China's fast-aging society calls for reforms to the Chinese pension market, given that old people in China will rise from 222 million in 2015 (16.1 percent of the total population) to around 500 million in 2050 (36.5 percent).
Zhuang Ning, who serves as the Information Planning Department director under the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said that current institutions qualified to service pension are inadequate to maximize the full potential of the country's pension market.
Further emphasizing on the need for China to have a pension market merged with the medical system, Zhuang noted that nursing bed vacancies would continue to hit 50 percent without professional healthcare services. That trend is set to continue regardless if more pension service institutions are established.
Without proper consolidation between the pension market and the medical system, several of China's old people stand to absorb disadvantages. Many of the country's elderly, who are prone to more health conditions, live in far-flung regions with poor quality healthcare access, Bloomberg reported.
Another problem in the merger lies in the lack of adequate medical knowledge among staff in the pension market. To resolve that, Peking University's Health Science Center deputy director Li Ying suggested that universities must dabble on creating degree programs designed to address the issue.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security also noted that China's present pension system, a component of the country's social security fund, is only able to pay for pensioners' living costs. That, despite yearly increases in pension ratios for the past 12 years.
Any lack of reforms in both medical system and retirement funding risks thoroughly endangering the lives of China's old people. With lesser younger people becoming part of the workforce amid throngs of elderly retirees, the country might soon run its pension budget dry.