◎ Li Xia, all-media reporter of "Legal Person" magazine
In recent years, commercial endowment insurance has been favored by more and more people, and many young people have begun to allocate commercial endowment insurance, and the potential of the domestic commercial endowment insurance market should not be underestimated.
▲ The elderly sunbathing in the Beijing Yanyuan of taikang home in the pension community Li Xia /photo
In this context, more and more insurance companies are entering the field of pensions. According to the data, as of November 2021, insurance institutions have laid out the pension industry in 34 cities across the country, with a total of more than 130,000 beds. The proportion of life insurance companies in the domestic layout of the pension industry has reached 47%, and the fields of pension institutions, communities and home care have been laid out through various models of light and heavy assets.
However, after some insurance institutions enter the pension industry, there are some disputes in the system design, practical guidance, risk prevention and control and actual cashing of pension insurance, and even damage the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. At the end of December 2021, the reporter of Legal Person interviewed a number of health wealth planners, insurance industry experts, lawyers and consumers who pay attention to commercial pension insurance to explore the truth behind commercial pension insurance.
Senior living communities are "samples of old age"
On December 19, 2021, the reporter came to the Yanyuan Garden of Taikang Home Pension Community located in Changping District, Beijing. Outside the hall, several elderly people with serene faces sat on wooden chairs, leaning their heads together from time to time to talk. The winter sun is warm, and the pension community has a quiet year.
▲The elderly living in the Beijing Yanyuan Garden of taikang home for the elderly Data picture
The reporter came to the public service area and the model house to see that flowers dot the room, cultural books are neatly arranged, bedrooms and kitchens are clean and tidy, and the high-quality living environment is highlighted everywhere. In the bathroom, the handrails and alarm devices next to the toilet, the chairs, armrests and floor mats placed in the bathroom, everywhere feel the careful care of the elderly.
According to Mr. Teng, a salesman of Yanyuan Garden, taikang home pension community introduced the CCRC continuous care model in the United States, docking the combination of medical care and nursing care with Chinese characteristics, and providing four kinds of life service areas for the elderly living independently, assisted living, professional nursing, and memory care, which can meet the care needs of the elderly with different physical conditions.
Mr. Zhang, who lives in the pension community, told reporters, "The reason why I stayed in Yanyuan is mainly to pay attention to the cultural atmosphere here. Being neighbors with like-minded friends, learning from each other, communicating with each other, and feeling that old age life is particularly meaningful, it can be said that it is a high-quality pension. ”
Aunt Zhang, who stayed in, said, "The children are too busy, there is no one to take care of them at home, the supporting services here are good, the environment is good, and they choose to come here for the elderly." ”
Ms. Wang, a staff member of Yanyuan, introduced to reporters that Qian Liqun, a well-known scholar, was the first batch of residents of Taikang Home Yanyuan. He came to Yanyuan in 2015 at the age of 76 and has lived here for a long time ever since. Qian Liqun also talked about his views on pension life in the book "Longevity Era": The new life of pension advocated by Taikang is to serve the middle class, and such a life has extraordinary significance and value, representing the future development direction of the ideal elderly. But it also has its own limitations, which is something that cannot and must not be avoided.
The threshold for staying in the elderly care community is 2 million
According to public information, Taikang Pension Community currently opens 8 places including Beijing Yanyuan, Guangzhou Yueyuan, Shanghai Shenyuan, etc., of which Beijing Yanyuan covers an area of about 138,000 square meters, with a ground construction area of about 309,000 square meters, about 3,000 pension units, and about 130 medical beds.
Mr. Teng, a financial planner at Taikang Insurance Company, told reporters that the threshold for staying in the Taikang pension community is to buy a savings dividend insurance of 2 million yuan. "Only by paying enough 2 million yuan can we get a pass for the Taikang pension community." However, a deposit and monthly fee will also be charged after the official check-in. ”
Mr. Teng showed reporters a product plan called "Taikang Hui Win Life Insurance", which shows that "Tai Kang Hui Win Life (Adult Version) Annuity Insurance (Participating Type)" is an adult-only participating annuity insurance. From the sixth year onwards, the annual survival benefit is received, and the annual pension from the age of 65 is 10% of the basic sum insured until the age of 106. The one-time life benefit for the age of 75 is a cumulative annuity premium paid, and the commitment to receive the life benefit and the pension for 20 years, as well as the death benefit and the insured accident waiver protection, as well as the annual dividend.
The reporter also learned that the conditions for the insured to stay in the pension community are: the contract is valid; the age of residence is over 55 years old for women and 60 years old for men; and the amount of payment is not less than 2 million yuan. Since the parents of both the insured spouses have the right of priority to stay, they do not need to wait until the payment amount exceeds 2 million yuan to move in, and they need to undergo a physical condition assessment and apply 18 months in advance to move in.
Zhang Zhiyong, who is ready to apply for insurance, expressed his doubts to reporters, "I am now 33 years old, if I pay enough 2 million yuan after 10 or 20 years and get the admission qualification, will I be able to stay at the age of 60?" Is there a room reserved for me? In the future, there will be more and more elderly people, will there be so many rooms? There are a lot of uncertainties in the feeling. ”
In fact, Taikang has previously caused controversy because the pension community promised to customers has not been implemented. According to the Southern Metropolis Daily, in 2014, Ms. Chen of Shenzhen purchased the above-mentioned savings-sharing pension insurance at the Shenzhen branch of Taikang Life Insurance and paid a one-year premium. At that time, the sales staff assured Ms. Chen that Taikang would build a pension community in Shenzhen and the location had been determined. The next day, Taikang and Ms. Chen signed a confirmation letter for Taikang Life Insurance customers to stay in the retirement community.
In 2015, Ms. Chen learned from the sales staff of Taikang Shenzhen Branch that the land that Taikang planned to build a shenzhen pension community had not been successfully bid for, which meant that the insurance company's promise could not be fulfilled as scheduled. As a result, she stopped paying bail and subsequently filed a lawsuit.
During the interview, the reporter found that many consumers revealed their doubts about the "2 million threshold", believing that "the threshold is high, the income cannot be clearly guaranteed, and there are too many uncertain factors."
Purchase of commercial pension insurance needs to be cautious
On January 5, Liu Yi, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi Law Firm who focuses on the field of insurance, told reporters that the insurance sold by Taikang Home is a compound product, and the core function lies in investment, and the functional attributes of old-age security are weak. Moreover, whether the pension community can operate smoothly is not a decision that insurance companies can decide. The heavy asset pension insurance + real estate model involves multiple links behind it, and once there is a problem in a certain link, it may not be able to be cashed.
Liu Yi further said that the long-term planning of many elderly care communities has a long time cycle and many variables. The construction of a retirement community involves the purchase of land, which has a large commercial risk. The purchase of insurance contracts is relative, and once the legitimate rights and interests of consumers are damaged, they can only claim compensation from the insurance company. In addition, consumers are not clear about the operation status of the elderly care community, and there is a problem of information asymmetry in the middle. It is recommended to purchase such insurance products, and must be cautious. When consumers sign such contracts, they must clearly read and understand the specific terms.
On December 24, 2021, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the Notice on Regulating and Promoting the Development of Pension Insurance Institutions (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), requiring the circle of "what can and cannot be done" for pension insurance institutions, such as clarifying that they should strengthen the pension attributes, and at the same time, also requiring the divestiture of insurance asset management business unrelated to pensions, and the pressure drop to clean up existing short-term personal pension security management industry products. In this regard, Liu Yi said that the introduction of the "Notice" is conducive to creating a fair market competition environment for the commercial pension insurance market and preventing financial risks.
Li Wenzhong, deputy director of the Insurance Department of the Capital University of Economics and Business, also pointed out in an interview with the media that the "pension" characteristics of commercial pension insurance companies are not obvious, which will bring a series of problems to the market, including easy to mislead consumers and form unfair competition with other market players. The "Notice" is intended to allow commercial pension insurance companies to return to their true identity, concentrate on engaging in pension business, and cope with the pension pressure brought about by the aging of the population.
A number of insurance companies have laid out pension communities
In recent years, in terms of investment in the pension industry, Insurance institutions such as Taikang Insurance, Chinese Life, China Taiping, and China Pacific Insurance Company have been actively laying out the medical and health industry. The elderly care community under the umbrella of insurance companies is receiving more and more attention. It is understood that there are nearly 60 pension community projects invested by 13 insurance institutions on the market, providing more than 80,000 beds for more than 20 provinces and cities across the country.
In 2021, the pension community projects of various insurance companies will accelerate the landing. Taikang Insurance Group, which has the broadest layout in the field of elderly care communities, has covered 22 key cities in the core areas of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Southwest China, Central China and Southeast China, of which Beijing Yanyuan, Shanghai Shenyuan, Guangzhou Yueyuan, Chengdu Shuyuan, Suzhou Wuyuan, Wuhan Chuyuan and Hangzhou Daqinggu 7 major communities have opened for operation.
China Pacific Insurance Company has landed 8 Taibao home care community construction projects in 7 cities, forming a product system of full-age coverage of elderly care, happy care and health care. At present, CPIC's Taibao Homestead Chengdu Yiyang Community and Dali Leyang Community under China Pacific Insurance Company have officially opened. In addition, Ping An of China released the "Ping An Zhen Yi Nian" health care brand and the first high-end product line "Yi Nian Cheng", and Xinhua Insurance's first large-scale CCRC community (continuous care retirement community) Xinhua Homestead Yixiang Community was unveiled in Yanqing, Beijing.
From the outside world' point of view, pension is a well-deserved sunrise industry, but at present, for many practitioners, "doing pension does not make money" has become a reality that has to be faced.
Taikang's 2020 annual report shows that in 2020, the operating income of Taikang medical and pension community was 3.339 billion yuan, down 4.16% year-on-year, while the operating cost of medical and pension in that year was 3.397 billion yuan, an increase of 5.01% year-on-year, which means that it has not yet achieved profitability through the operation of pension communities.
Chen Dongsheng, chairman of Taikang Insurance Group, has repeatedly publicly expressed his views on the commercial returns of the pension industry, "Everyone thinks that the big health is very hot, but the big health is not very good at making money, it needs to be accumulated, and it takes 5 to 8 years to really make money, which is a slow work." Different from doing FMCG, the medical and pension industry advertising is more, if the service can not keep up, the probability of failure will be greater. Therefore, we must fully empower and integrate, and we must continue to improve professional capabilities and service capabilities, and finally form a strong reputation. ”
However, some people in the insurance industry said that insurance companies do pension communities, in the long run, may be expected to be better, if they can reach 80% of the occupancy rate, costs and expenses are basically the same. With influence, the future will continue to export services, and making money will become a matter of course.
(This article was published in the first-line survey column of the 215th issue of The Company magazine in January 2022)
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